March 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Dutch government criticized a movie released yesterday by nationalist party leader Geert Wilders in which he links the Koran to violence, warning that it is likely to offend Muslims.

The 15-minute movie ``Fitna'' features verses from the Muslim holy book alongside images of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Madrid train bombings in 2004. The movie was posted on the Internet.

``The film equates Islam with violence. We reject this interpretation,'' Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told a news conference in The Hague yesterday. ``We regret that Mr. Wilders has released this film. We believe it serves no purpose other than to cause offense, but feeling offended must never be used as an excuse for aggression and threats.''

Plans for the movie's release fueled ethnic tension in the Netherlands and sparked anger in Muslim countries including Iran, Egypt and Pakistan. About 5,000 people rallied in Amsterdam on March 22 to protest racism and Wilders's anti- Islamic comments.

Germany's Federal Criminal Office said that it's concerned the movie may incite ``fanatic perpetrators'' to carry out terrorist attacks in Germany, president Joerg Ziercke told N24 television today, adding that such videos are ``always seen as an increased threat.''

The government is ``heartened by the initial restrained reactions of Dutch Muslim organizations'' to the movie's release, the prime minister said.

`Danger for Freedom'

``Islam and the Koran are a danger for freedom in the Netherlands in the long term and I need to warn against that,'' Wilders told NOS television yesterday, adding the movie isn't a ``provocation.''

Wilders, 44, has campaigned against immigration and Muslim culture since he left the Liberals in 2004 to found his own Freedom Party under the slogan, ``Stop the Islamization of the Netherlands.''

The last time a Dutch film criticized Islam, in 2004, its director, Theo van Gogh, was slain. His killer, a 26-year-old son of Moroccan immigrants, pinned a note on his body calling for a holy war against infidels.

The killing was followed by the worst ethnic violence in the Netherlands since the end of World War II. Muslim schools and mosques were torched. As recently as October, racial tensions prompted youths to fight with police and set cars on fire in Amsterdam.

Closed Off

Police in The Hague closed the area around the Parliament, spokesman Wim Hoonhout said by telephone yesterday, adding it was a standard precautionary measure.

Three-quarters of people in the Netherlands feared the Wilders movie would worsen the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, according to a Feb. 29 poll of 600 people by TNS Nipo and broadcaster RTL.

``We're aware of the concerns and feelings in the international Muslim community. The Dutch government advocates the freedom of religion and we will continue to inform other countries on our stance in this matter,'' Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said in an interview by telephone.

The Dutch government hasn't yet received complaints from other countries about the film, he said. The presidency of the European Union, currently held by Slovenia, today said the film ``serves no other purpose than inflaming hatred,'' according to a statement on its Web site.

EU Reaction

``The European Union and its member states apply the principle of the freedom of speech which is part of our values and traditions,'' the EU presidency said, adding that it ``fully supports'' the Dutch government.

The Dutch Muslim Council today said the release of the film ``creates a caricature of Islam'' and is a ``worrying development,'' news agency ANP reported.

Wilders's movie shows a caricature by Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban. The cartoon was among 12 printed in 2005 by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper that prompted protests in Muslim communities worldwide and consumer boycotts of Danish products.

Westergaard told Dutch television program Nova that the use of his caricature in the movie is ``theft'' and ``an abuse of my cartoon.''

The movie also shows part of an interview with Theo van Gogh in which he said he didn't expect to be attacked. The movie concludes with a call upon Muslims to rip ``hate preaching verses'' out of the Koran.

`Sequence of Images'

``The movie isn't an insult to Muslims,'' Maurits Berger, a professor of Islam in the Western world at Leiden University, said in an interview with NOS. ``It's nothing more than a sequence of images from the past years.''

Wilders ``demonizes Muslims in the Netherlands, not the Muslims outside the Netherlands,'' Leo Kwarten, an Arabist, said on the Dutch television program ``Netwerk.'' Five percent of the population of 16 million people is Muslim, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Wilders's Freedom Party holds nine of the 150 seats in Parliament and would have 12 if elections were held today, according to a March 21 Interview NSS poll.

Wilders didn't return calls seeking comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jurjen van de Pol in Amsterdam at jvandepol@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 28, 2008 09:26 EDT