THE Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam has urged fellow Muslim immigrants who do not appreciate the Western way of life to pack their bags and “f*** off”.
The extraordinary outburst came from Ahmed Aboutaleb, 53, who arrived in the Netherlands aged 15.
He won praise for his comments from London Mayor Boris Johnson, who described him as his hero.
Aboutaleb, a former journalist who was appointed mayor of the Dutch city in 2008, is known for his no-nonsense stance on the integration of ethnic minorities.
Appearing on live television only hours after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris last week, he said Muslims who “do not like freedom can pack your bags and leave”.
“It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom,” he said on Dutch current affairs programme Nieuwsuur.
“If you do not like it here because some humourists you don’t like are making a newspaper, may I then say you can f*** off. This is stupid, this so incomprehensible.
“Vanish from the Netherlands if you cannot find your place here. All those well-meaning Muslims here will now be stared at.”
Johnson hailed his counterpart for being “straight to the point”. “That is the voice of the enlightenment, of Voltaire,” he was quoted as saying.
“If we are going to win the struggle for the minds of these young people, then that is the kind of voice we need to hear – and it needs, above all, to be a Muslim voice.”
Aboutaleb grew up the son of an imam in northern Morocco, but moved to the Netherlands in 1976. – Daily Mail