Muslim mayor of Rotterdam tells extremists who don’t like freedom ‘f*** off’

The mayor of Rotterdam has launched an attack on Islamist extremists living in the West who ‘turn against freedom’, telling them ‘if you don’t like the humorists who make a newspaper, f*** off.’

Ahmed Aboutaleb, whose father was an imam, pulled no punches as he spoke about the murder of 17 Parisians last week, 12 of whom died at the headquarters of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Speaking to current affairs programme Nieuwsuur, the 53-year-old attacked ‘backwards’ anti-freedom extremists and defended the tolerant values of what he called the ‘We Society’.

‘It’s incomprehensible that you turn against freedom like that, but if you don’t like this freedom, for heaven’s sake, get your suitcase, and leave,’ said Mr Aboutaleb, who leads one of the Netherlands’ most populous cities.

‘There might be a place where you belong, and be honest with yourself about that, don’t kill innocent journalists.

‘This is so backwards, so incomprehensible, go away if you can’t find your place in the Netherlands, or accept the society we want to build here, because we only want people, including all those Muslims, and all those well-intentioned Muslims, who may be looked at with suspicion, we want to keep all those people together in what I call the “We Society”.

‘And if you don’t like it here because you don’t like the humorists who make a little newspaper – if I may dare say so – just f*** off.’

Moroccan-born Mr Aboutaleb, who was 15 when he came to the Netherlands, became the first immigrant to become a mayor in the Netherlands when he was elected in 2008.

‘There might be a place where you belong, and be honest with yourself about that, don’t kill innocent journalists.

Mr Aboutaleb was reacting to the murder of 17 Parisians last week (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

‘This is so backwards, so incomprehensible, go away if you can’t find your place in the Netherlands, or accept the society we want to build here, because we only want people, including all those Muslims, and all those well-intentioned Muslims, who may be looked at with suspicion, we want to keep all those people together in what I call the “We Society”.

‘And if you don’t like it here because you don’t like the humorists who make a little newspaper – if I may dare say so – just f*** off.’