SCHIPHOL: Dutch antiIslam MP Geert Wilders went on trial on Monday in a landmark case on hate speech as a high-security court heard how children had been scared by inflammatory calls that fewer Moroccans should live in the country.

As expected, the firebrand MP with the peroxide-blonde hair snubbed the court, leaving his defence lawyer to read out a statement to explain the no-show.

`It is a political process and I have decided not to be present. It`s my right as a politician to speak out if there is a problem in the Netherlands,`Wilders`statement said. Prosecutors confirmed they would not demand that he appear.

Analysts say the highlyanticipated trial will test the boundaries of freedom of expression as general elections loom in March.

Three judges are hearing the case against Wilders, 53, on charges of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred af ter comments he made about Moroccans living in the Netherlands.

The trial focuses in part on a comment made at a March 2014 local government election rally, when Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted `fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands`.

When the crowd shouted back `Fewer! Fewer!` a smil-ing Wilders answered: `We`re going to organise that.` His 2014 statements were met with outrage including from the small but vocal Dutch Muslim community. An avalanche of 6,400 complaints followed.

The judges laid out the case against Wilders including reading out complaints against him by a number of Dutch Moroccans and citizens.

`We are feeling discriminated against` and `our children are afraid,` some of the complaints read.

The children `wonder if they shouldgo back to Morocco, especially when people shout fewer, fewer at them,` said one woman, in a statement read by Judge Elianne van Rens.

But there were other statements, highlighted by the defence, in which some plaintiff s said their relatives and the police had written the statements for them, and they did not know what they were signing.

Many statements were also taken at mosques in The Netherlands and seem to have been written along the same lines, the judges said.

In yet another twist, Wilders` attorney, Geert-Jan Knoops, confirmed his client was counter-suing 40 Moroccan claimants who are seeking 500 euros ($547) compensation from Wilders for 1,150 euros each to help pay his legal fees.-AFP