Anis Amri, the Tunisian terrorist responsible for the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin earlier this month, fled from Germany to the Netherlands after his horrendous crime. In the Netherlands, he took a bus to the French city of Lyon and then took a train to the French Alpine town of Chambery. Finally, he headed to Milan, Italy, where he was — thank God — at long last shot by the Italian police.
As France24 points out, the news about Amri’s travel has sparked outrage in Europe:
The fact that the chief suspect in the Berlin attack was able to return to Italy unhindered despite a Europe-wide arrest warrant has raised uncomfortable questions for intelligence agencies.
It is, of course, humiliating for France: Amri was able to get in and out of the country despite a state of emergency.
In the Netherlands too, the news that Amri — or the butcher of Berlin, as I prefer to call him — was able to hop on a bus in the city of Nijmegen has created a major controversy. PVV leader Geert Wilders — who’s currently leading in the polls and who should be considered the main favorite to win the Dutch elections in March of 2017 — has rightfully responded with tremendous anger to this news. Speaking to PJ Media, Wilders says:
This is Europe today. Weak leaders, open borders and Muslim terrorists who freely travel all over our continent wherever they want and kill whenever they see fit. Our governments are asleep, our secret services have no clue at all and our people are killed and in serious danger.
Harsh, yes, but 100% correct. Amri and his radical Islamic friends could’ve murdered dozens more, not only in Germany but also in the Netherlands. And we’ve got the insane pan-European project to thank for it: open borders, no security checks anywhere, and unlimited migration from countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Wilders:
We need to close our borders, get rid of our weak leaders by elections, deIslamize our societies in order to safeguard our liberty and protect our people. We are facing an existential problem here; war has been declared on us and we have to start fighting back.
Earlier today, Wilders sent an email to the leaders of the other parties in Parliament, demanding an emergency debate (link in Dutch) about the matter.
Believe it or not, the other parties did not agree. There was no majority for such an emergency debate, even though it is now crystal clear that radical Islamic terrorists can cross the German/Dutch border whenever they please. Clearly, the government coalition (formed by the supposedly classically liberal VVD and the social-democrats of Labor) couldn’t care less.
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) December 28, 2016
The sad fact of the matter is that most Dutch politicians — and most European leaders — aren’t bothered too much by any of this. The reason is obvious: sharing Wilders’ concerns means you have to advocate against the European Union, at least in certain ways (e.g., immigration policy, open internal borders), and that’s not something the current government is willing to do. After all, when Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his fellow cabinet members are done in the Netherlands, they’ll be eyeing political careers in Brussels, where the big bucks are made.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member