Eight people who left discriminatory and inflammatory statements on a Facebook page set up to support the anti-Islam PVV have been fined between €350 and €450.

The public prosecution department said if they do not pay, they will have to appear in court. The department began a criminal investigation into statements left on the site in January.

The comments were made after the page published an article from the Telegraaf newspaper about the firebombing of mosques in Sweden. A number of Moroccan organisations made formal complaints against the page for threatening behaviour and incitement to discrimination and hatred.

A ninth person was not fined. He lost his job after his employer discovered his involvement in the site and has been punished enough, the public prosecution department said.

The page Steun de PVV (support the PVV) has some 26,000 ‘friends’. In a reaction to the fines, the page organiser stated: ‘The eight comments were of course unacceptable but we will not let ourselves be silenced any more.’