Wilders suspends his election campaign after a threat to assassinate him from a Belgian cell
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders canceled all his public appearances in the election campaign after being informed by the Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV) that he was on a list of potential targets of an alleged terrorist cell in Belgium.
In Belgium, three men aged 18, 23, and 24 were arrested in the city of Antwerp on Thursday, accused of planning to assassinate Belgian politicians including Prime Minister Bart De Wever. Belgian media reported that Wilders may also be a target of this plot.
For his part, Wilders said he had contacted the NCTV, which did not make any public comment. He added, 'They do not expect any remaining threat, but I do not feel comfortable, so I have temporarily suspended all my election activities.'
Wilders did not participate in the radio debate on Friday, and he withdrew from the 'Prime Minister' debate that was scheduled to take place on RTL channel on Sunday, refusing to participate even via a live link.
As for De Wever, he did not cancel his agenda and participated in the weekly meeting of the Belgian Council of Ministers on Friday. Later, he posted a humorous picture of his cat on Instagram in response to the threat.