Hours after the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks, Rotterdam, Netherlands Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb spoke on the PBS program NewsHour about the current state of Muslims in Europe.
He said:
“It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom… But if you don’t like freedom, for heaven’s sake pack your bags and leave.
“There may be a place in the world where you can be yourself, 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 fuck off.
“This is stupid, this so incomprehensible. Vanish from the Netherlands if you cannot find your place here. All those well-meaning Muslims here will now be stared at.”
Aboutaleb, a Moroccan-born Muslim and former journalist took up the office of Mayor in 2008 now presides over one of a number of European cities where ethnic minorities and non-natives make up over half of the population. Although his appointment as mayor was criticised initially by anti-Islam parties in the Netherlands, who demanded he give up his dual Moroccan citizenship, he has since worked to prove his worth.
He has been criticized by fellow Muslims in the past for similar statements.