Newly appointed US Ambassador to the Netherlands Peter Hoekstra has taken back his comments that alleged Islamic violence had created no-go zones in the country, saying his statement was "wrong."
Commenting on the ambassador's remarks, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that he disagreed with Hoekstra, but added that he wanted to build "viable" relations with the US.
At the same time, the US State Department said that Hoekstra will be meeting with the media next week to explain his comments.
"The ambassador made mistakes in 2015, made comments that should not have been made," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Steve Goldstein told reporters the day before.
Former Republican congressman Peter Hoekstra, born in the Netherlands, was appointed the ambassador to the Netherlands this year.
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In 2015, he drew attention after claiming at a conference that Muslim immigrants had brought chaos to the Netherlands.
"The Islamic movement has now gotten to a point where they have put Europe into chaos, chaos in the Netherlands, there are cars being burned, there are politicians that are being burned," he says in the clip, adding parts of the country were now "no-go zones."
