Protesters against Dutch MP Geert Wilders appearance in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski Source: Herald Sun
PROTESTERS have pushed people to the ground as they tried to stop a Melbourne speech by controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders.
A group of about 40 protesters blocked the gate leading into the Somerton function centre and were seen physically stopping people from entering, even pushing some people to the ground, as they chanted.
A large number of police, including mounted police, were on scene but have made no attempts to move them on.
Mr Wilders is due to give a speech at the venue as the first part of his Australian tour.
The right-wing MP wants a ban on Islamic immigration and says the religion is incompatible with freedom, but he insists he's not trying to incite violence or insult people during his Australian visit.
Dutch politician Geert Wilders says Australia should not be scared of him.
Organisers had tried to keep the venue for the speech a secret to avoid protests.
Earlier, speaking in Melbourne at his first Australian press conference amid tight security, Mr Wilders said Islam could not integrate into western societies.
"Islam is totalitarianism ... Islam and freedom are incompatible," he said.
Protesters against Dutch MP Geert Wilders appearance in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
Despite threats of protests, no demonstrators attended the press conference, which was held in the outer western suburbs.
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About a dozen security guards were present, including personnel from the Netherlands.
Mr Wilders said mass migration from Islamic countries to Western nations should be stopped, except for certain humanitarian cases.
Protesters against Dutch MP Geert Wilders appearance in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
"If a homosexual who is taken to jail or threatened to be killed in Iran or a Christian that is mistreated in so many countries today in the Middle East ... when it comes to asylum seekers it's a different story,'' he said.
Mr Wilders said he wasn’t in the business of insulting people or inciting hatred, but he made derogatory remarks about the prophet Mohammed .
"We have to be able to talk in a free society about the character of Mohammed," he said.
"Mohammed was a warlord, a terrorist, a paedophile, and I would not say that if not today 1.5 billion people believe that Mohammed is the best example to follow.
Protesters against Dutch MP Geert Wilders appearance in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
“It would be totally ridiculous to suggest that they are all following the example, but in the ideology the Koran is the word of God and the life of Mohammed ... is the person that they should copy, that they should try to follow.”
Mr Wilders said that those stopped from migrating from countries such as Lebanon would include Christians.
But an organiser of the MP's visit, Andrew Horwood from the Q Society, interjected to say that the situation in the Netherlands was different to Australia.
"We don't have a policy of stopping people coming to this country, we welcome people coming to this country, we ask them to obey our laws,'' Mr Horwood said.
"What's happening in the Netherlands can be different, we're just hearing from some of the experiences, we're not asking that they all happen here.''
Louise O’Shea, spokeswoman for groups opposing Mr Wilders, had earlier warned that protesters would picket tonight’s meeting.
"We want to make sure that anti-racist voices are heard, and that it is clear to people affected by racism and to those who oppose it here and around the world that there is strong opposition to Wilders' message of hate," she said.
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