Anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders is expected to address a protest at plans to build an Islamic cultural centre two blocks from Ground Zero in New York at around 2200 hours this evening, Dutch time.

The protest is taking place on the day that the US remembers the thousands killed in the 11 September terrorist attacks nine years ago.
Although few people in New York have heard of him, Dutch politicians are awaiting Wilders’s speech because of its implications for the ongoing formation talks.
Coalition

His party, the PVV, is involved in talks on forming a new right-wing government with the VVD Liberals and Christian Democrats.
Wilders has already said he feels free to say whatever he likes about Islam, despite his association with the possible next government.
And the three parties agreed to ‘respect’ each others’ position on Islam before sitting round the negotiating table.
Nevertheless, there are fears that Wilders’ appearance could damage the discussions – particularly because the PVV leader is seen by some as a representative of the Netherlands.
Candidate prime minister
Alexander Pechtold, leader of the Liberal democrats D66 and a vocal Wilders’ critic, said earlier he felt VVD leader Mark Rutte should comment on Wilders’ performance because Rutte is ‘candidate prime minister’.
‘On the eve of the the next step in Wilders’ domination of Dutch politics, the completion of his marionette cabinet, he is going international,’ Pechtold said. ‘Not as a minister of foreign affairs but as as a speaker in a planning issue in New York.’
According to a Maurice de Hond poll, 20% of Dutch voters support Wilders’ appearance in New York, 39% are opposed and 41% are neutral.
In The Hague, up to 150 people gathered in the city centre to demonstrate against Wilders’ appearance at the New York protests.
Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the anti-Islam campaigner and former Somali refugee turned Dutch politician who now now works in the US, said she felt Wilders should have stayed in the Netherlands.
‘If I was Wilders I would have been at the negotiating table,’ the Telegraaf quoted her as saying.