Populist far-right politician Geert Wilders has said Islam is a threat to European values and is incompatible with freedom.
"Dutch values are based on Christianity, on Judaism, on humanism. Islam and freedom are not compatible," Mr Wilders, 53, told USA Today.
"You see it in almost every country where it dominates. There is a total lack of freedom, civil society, rule of law, middle class; journalists, gays, apostates — they are all in trouble in those places. And we import it."
Geert Wilders: 'I will never be silent'
The leader of the one-man Freedom Party (PVV) recently reiterated his controversial statements on Moroccan immigrants to the Netherlands, calling them "Moroccan scum".
“Once again not all are scum but there is a lot of Moroccan scum in Holland who makes the streets unsafe, mostly young people,” he said.
“If you want to regain your country, if you want to make the Netherlands for the people of the Netherlands, your own home again, then you can only vote for one party.”
His party is riding high in Dutch polls three weeks ahead of the national elections.
World news in pictures
20 February 2017
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20 February 2017
Smoke billows following a reported car bomb explosion at a Syrian pro-government position during clashes between rebel fighters and regime forces to take control of an area in the southern city of Daraa Getty Images
19 February 2017
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19 February 2017
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19 February 2017
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20 February 2017
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19 February 2017
A boy takes selfies with Pope Francis during a visit at the parish of St. Mary Josefa of the Heart of Jesus in Rome Reuters
20 February 2017
Turkish soldiers accused of attempting to assassinate President Tayyip Erdogan on the night of the failed last year's July 15 coup, are escorted by gendarmes as they arrive for the first hearing of the trial in Mugla, Turkey Reuters
20 February 2017
Journalists take pictures of former Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang inside a prison van leaving the High Court in Hong Kong, China Reuters
21 February 2017
Police, firefighters and people stand next to the body of a bodyboarder killed by a shark, covered by a white cloth on a beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. A 26 year-old bodyboarder was attacked by a shark while bodyboarding in a dangerous water area on February 21, 2017 off Saint-Andre. The man had his femoral artery cut off and bled to death, according to firefighters Getty Images
21 February 2017
Firefighters carry the body of a bodyboarder killed by a shark, as members of the French emergency medical services SAMU watch on a beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. A 26 year-old bodyboarder was attacked by a shark while bodyboarding in a dangerous water area off Saint-Andre. The man had his femoral artery cut off and bled to death, according to firefighters Getty Images
21 February 2017
A 23 year old terror suspect sits in the dock after masked police officers lead him into the court room in Salzburg, Austria. The Syrian man is accused of being member of the Islamic State organization AP
21 February 2017
A portrait of Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin placed at the Foreign Ministry guest house in Moscow, Russia EPA
21 February 2017
A sniper from Iraq's Federal Police force takes aim at Islamic State positions from the roof of a house on the frontline in Albu Saif, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters
21 February 2017
Iraqi rapid response forces take their position during a battle with Islamic State militants in village of Albu Saif, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters
21 February 2017
Smoke rises after a rocket fired by Iraqi forces in Albu Saif hit village held by Islamic State militants south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters
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21 February 2017
A twin-engined Beechcraft plane crashed into a shopping centre just after take-off from Essendon Fields airport near Melbourne Getty Images
21 February 2017
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21 February 2017
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21 February 2017
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21 February 2017
Pakistani soldiers stand guard at the site of a court complex after multiple Taliban suicide bomb attacks in the Tangi area of Charsadda district. At least five people were killed when multiple Taliban suicide bombers attacked a court complex in Pakistan Getty Images
21 February 2017
British national David Taylor is escorted to his trial at a court in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. A British man and an Australian woman have been charged with eight years of prison for group assault resulting in the death of a police man Getty Images
21 February 2017
Australian national Sara Connor is brought from a holding cell to a courtrooom to attend her trial in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. A British man and an Australian woman have been charged with eight years of prison for group assault resulting in the death of a police man Getty Images
Even if his party comes first it is unlikely to be able to form a government without a coalition with other parties, most of which have ruled out the possibility.
However, Mr Wilders told USA Today: "Even if I lose this election, the genie will not go back in the bottle again.
"People are fed up with the combination of mass immigration, Islamisation and austerity measures that require us to cut pensions and support for health care and the elderly while giving [bailout] money to Greece and the eurozone."
He added: "On Islam, it is true that I am tough. Perhaps tougher than I should be if my only aim was to get votes.
"But I really believe in what I say, that the Islamic ideology is this huge threat."
Mr Wilders has pledged to ban Muslim immigration, close all mosques and take the Netherlands out of the EU.
His Freedom Party and Prime Minister Mark Rutte's liberal people's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) are currently neck and neck according to the latest polls.
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