Dutch MP Geert Wilders set to defy ban on UK entry to show Anti-Quran film Fitna

On Tuesday, Wilders received a letter from the Home Office telling him that his presence in the UK poses a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat."

Wilders says British authorities will have to physically stop him. "I'll see what happens at the border. Let them put me in handcuffs," he said.

Wilders currently faces prosecution in Holland for incitement to hatred and discrimination based Fitna as well as comments in the Dutch press last year in which he compared the Quran to Mein Kampf arguing that it should be banned in under Dutch incitement laws.

Fitna features verses from the Quran alongside images of the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, Madrid in March 2004 and London in July 2005. It equates Islam's holy text with violence and ends with a call to Muslims to remove 'hate-preaching' verses from the Quran.

The Home Office has said it would "stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country." In the last three years the government has excluded 270 people on suspicion of promoting extremism or being a threat to national security including 79 "preachers of hate".

The government's decision has been criticised in Holland. "The fact that a Dutch parliamentarian is refused entry to another EU country is highly regrettable," said Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister.

Opposition is widespread in the UK. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell accused the government of "double standards". Tatchell said the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith regularly grants visas and work permits to Jamaican reggae singers who openly incite the murder of lesbian and gay people. "She gives visas to demagogues who incite violence and murder, while banning from the UK a Dutch MP who has never incited violence against anyone," he said.

The National Secular Society president, Terry Sanderson, said the UK should not deny an application by a "democratically elected politician from a sovereign state who wants to come and express an opinion". "It may be a controversial opinion but he is entitled to express it," he added.

The counter-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation also opposes the Home Office's decision. "Wilders' ideas should be challenged through debate - not through government intervention that may only make him a martyr to his supporters," the organisation said in a statement. "Freedom of speech should be protected - so long as people do not use this freedom to call for violence against others," added Director Maajid Nawaz.

However, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, described Wilders' film as "revolting" and said it incites people to violence. He said: "Freedom of Speech is absolutely crucial. I think though in any civilised society there is a dividing line between freedom of speech and incitement to violence, incitement to hatred." 

Pearson and cross-bench peer Baroness Cox, organisers of the House of Lords event, said the screening was designed to encourage discussion about how Islam's holy text has been used to "promote or justify" violence. They said the film was available on the internet and "is not a threat to anyone", and asked: "Would this have happened if Mr Wilders had said 'Ban the Bible'?"

In a joint statement the Peers accused the government of "appeasing" militant Islamists and said: "We intend to show and discuss the film with members of the British Parliament and the press as previously indicated, with or without Mr Wilders."