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Snippets of an Islam-bashing film by Dutch far-right MP Geert
Wilders were causing a stir Thursday on YouTube, where they
triggered cheers and barbs among thousands of viewers.
Wilders made good his pledge to post a
controversial film critical of Islam on the Internet and the video
quickly spread from British video-sharing website www.liveleak.com
to globally popular YouTube.
YouTube, based in the San Francisco Bay Area,
posted a warning that scenes from the video clips were potentially
offensive and required users to confirm they are adults before
allowing the clips to be viewed.
The Wilders film, titled "Fitna,"
features violent imagery of terrorist attacks in New York and Madrid
intertwined with Koranic texts.
Clips showed the 17-minute movie opening with
images of a Koran and the text of a sura from Islam's holiest tome,
which translated from Arabic implores the faithful to
"terrorize the enemies of Allah."
Portions of the film ranging from two to 10
minutes quickly logged thousands of views at YouTube and inspired
critics to post lambasting commentary or post their own videos
critical of Wilders.
"Don't blame the Quran, but blame the
people who do these things," wrote a Netherlands YouTube user
going by the screen name mV33rs.
Some postings slammed Wilders as racist or
crazy.
Opening scenes of "Fitna" were
followed by images of airplanes flying into the World Trade Centre
in New York on September 11, 2001, with sound bites from phone calls
to the emergency services on that day.
The film continues with grizzly images of
bloodstained bodies in the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings in
March 2004 in which 191 people were killed.
"This, unfortunately, is a daily pollution
of Europe," YouTube user Growlcub of Denmark wrote in support
of the film.
Despite pressure from The Hague not to release
the movie, Wilders pushed ahead. Dutch officials fear a repeat of
violent protests that erupted when European newspapers printed
cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
"Every word we heard in this film, aside
from the Koran, were by leaders of the Islamic world," a US
YouTube user named Claranicole wrote in a chat forum beneath one of
the "Fitna" clips.
"These are facts, we should stop being
afraid of them, we are allowing them to intimidate us, its time that
we stand strong against them."
YouTube told AFP it strives to balance freedom
of expression with the standards set by its video-sharing community.
"We strive to provide a community where
people from around the world can broadcast and express themselves by
sharing videos in a safe and lawful manner," the firm said in a
written response to an AFP inquiry.
"The diversity of the world in which we
live -- spanning the vast dimensions of ethnicity, religion,
nationality, language, political opinion, gender, and sexual
orientation, to name a few -- means that some of the beliefs and
views of some individuals may offend others."
-- AFP
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