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PVV leader Geert Wilders' anti-refugee, anti-Islam comments have caused many ruffled feathers in the refugee debate in the Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament, on Thursday.
According to the PVV leader, the refugees are safe enough in the refugee camps in their own regions. The only ones coming to northwest-Europe are "economic refugees", NU reports. He spoke of an "Islamic invasion" of "men with beards" flooding into Europe. Wilders insisted on closing the borders and abandoning the Schengen Treaty. He closed his speech with a statement to Prime Minister Mark Rutte: "Stop building refugee centers. Stand up for your own people, your own culture."
This did not go down well with opposition parties in the Tweede Kamer. SP leader Emile Roemer said that he is done with Wilders' "hypocritical fuss". According to him, Wilders is all for throwing bombs on Syria and Iraq, but not prepared to take responsibility for the consequences. "I despise it. My party stands for dignity. That means that we do not let people down." Roemer continued that the refugees in the regional camps live in appalling conditions. There is almost no sense of hygiene and kids can not attend school. GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver chimed in with the fact that women in the camps live with the fear of being raped. "That is not safety", Roemer said.