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Europe

AP Interview: Dutch lawmaker insists on 'de-Islamization'

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    Firebrand anti-islam lawmaker Geert Wilders answers questions during an interview in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Now, as a March 15 parliamentary election looms, the political mood is turning inward as Wilders dominates polls with an isolationist manifesto that calls for the Netherlands "to be independent again. So out of the EU." (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) (The Associated Press)

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    Firebrand anti-islam lawmaker Geert Wilders answers questions during an interview in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Now, as a March 15 parliamentary election looms, the political mood is turning inward as Wilders dominates polls with an isolationist manifesto that calls for the Netherlands "to be independent again. So out of the EU." (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) (The Associated Press)

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    Image 3 of 3

    Firebrand anti-islam lawmaker Geert Wilders answers questions as the Dutch flag is seen in the background during an interview in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Now, as a March 15 parliamentary election looms, the political mood is turning inward as Wilders dominates polls with an isolationist manifesto that calls for the Netherlands "to be independent again. So out of the EU." (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) (The Associated Press)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker who is at the vanguard of a wave of European far-right populists aiming to take power at elections this year, is pushing ahead with his platform to "de-Islamisize" the Netherlands, despite lawyers saying it could breach the Dutch constitution.

In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Wilders insisted that his plans, which include closing the country's borders to asylum seekers and migrants from Islamic countries, shutting all mosques and banning the Quran, are legal.

And he hinted he could even seek to change the constitution, if necessary. Wilders says, "a constitution is not something that is (set) in stone and can never be changed."

Wilders' Party is riding high in polls less than a month before parliamentary elections set for March 15.