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Politicians lament Fortuyn's death
LONDON, England -- Politicians have condemned the killing of far-right party leader Pim Fortuyn, with many calling for a halt to next week's elections as a mark of respect. Fortuyn, whose party Pim Fortuyn's List was expected to take up to a fifth of Dutch parliamentary seats in the May 15 general election, was gunned down outside an Amsterdam radio station on Monday. Els Borst, a Dutch vice-premier, said: "Maybe a time-out is necessary." Caretaker Prime Minister Wim Kok led the political tributes after officially announcing his opponent's death. He told a press conference: "Pim Fortuyn is no longer with us. This is a deeply tragic moment." He said he was "astonished and deeply shocked" by the shooting, and added: "This is deeply tragic ... for all his loved ones. It is also deeply tragic for our democracy."
"Respect for each other means you fight with words, not bullets," he said. Fortuyn's assassination is the first to have happened in the Netherlands in modern times. Ad Melkert, new leader of the ruling Labour Party and its candidate for prime minister, said: "These are things you thought were just not possible in the Netherlands. "It's a low-point for our democracy." British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was due to attend a Labour rally on Tuesday, condemned the attack. He said in a statement: "We share the real sense of shock there will be in the Netherlands. "Whatever feelings political figures arouse, the ballot box is the place to express them." Fortuyn has been described as a far-right politician because of his anti-immigration policy and anti Muslim comments, but he defied any membership to the left or the right -- preferring to be bracketed with the ideology of Britain's former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. He was critical of the government's liberal policies and called for lower taxes and improved public services. It was Fortuyn's comment that the Netherlands did not need any more immigrants as it was already "full" which drew most support and antagonism. Far-right parties were among the condemnations that came in from around Europe. Austria's extreme-right Freedom Party's spokesman Karl Schweitzer said he was shaken by the assassination. "It is madness," he said. "It always starts with verbal violence, and in that respect some serious disarmament will be needed at some point." Fortuyn was sceptical about the European Union and called for a referendum on plans to enlarge the organisation. The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Fortuyn's killing was a "tragedy." "You may disagree with the ideas but democracy is true to freedom of expression and ... everybody has the right to express ideas," he added. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt told Belgian media on a visit to Skopje, Macedonia, that he was extremely shocked. "I believed something like this was impossible in this day in age, in the European Union, in the 21st century," he said. |
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