Dutch far-Right-wing politician Geert Wilders has been found guilty of inciting racial discrimination for leading a chant calling for “fewer, fewer” Moroccans in the Netherlands.

Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the court would not impose a sentence because the conviction was punishment enough for a democratically elected lawmaker. Prosecutors had asked judges to fine him 5,000 euros (£4,200).

Wilders, head of the PVV Freedom Party, was not present to hear the judgment but his lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops immediately issued a statement to say he would appeal.

The case was based on almost 6,500 official complaints after Wilders led a party rally during a local election campaign in The Hague in March 2014, asking whether there should be “more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands”.

The crowd’s response of “fewer, fewer”, was clearly organised, said a judge at the secure court at Schiphol Judicial Complex, near Amsterdam, ruling that Wilders had breached the boundaries of even a politician’s freedom of speech.