VIDEO- Rotterdam's mayor tells Muslims to pack their bags and go if they don't like freedom - Telegraph

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:08

Ahmed Aboutaleb, a Labour politician and former government minister, issued his uncompromising message on the day that Islamist terrorists attacked the French satirical magazine because it published cartoons mocking Islam.

''It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom. But if you do not like freedom, in Heaven's name pack your bag and leave,'' he said.

''There may be a place in the world where you can be yourself,'' he continued. ''Be honest with yourself and do not go and kill innocent journalists. And if you do not like it here because humorists you do not like make a newspaper, may I then say you can ---- off.''

Mr Aboutaleb, who became the Dutch city's mayor in 2008, has repeatedly hit the headlines for his outspoken views on the integration of immigrants, including praise from Boris Johnson.

''But if we are going to win the struggle for the minds of these young people, then that is the kind of voice we need to hear '' and it needs above all to be a Muslim voice.''

A ''secular Muslim'', Mr Aboutaleb grew up the son of an imam in northern Morocco, but moved to the Netherlands aged 15 in 1976.