ROTTERDAM - A MOROCCAN immigrant was installed on Monday as mayor of Rotterdam, the Netherlands' second-largest city, in a step seen as contributing towards the integration of minorities.

Mr Ahmed Aboutaleb, 47, a Muslim who was formerly junior minister for social affairs, vowed to ease tensions between the city's native Dutch and a growing immigrant population.

'Building trust means a hefty debate about the fundamentals of constitutional democracy: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal rights for men and woman, homosexual and heterosexual, and fighting discrimination,' said Mr Aboutaleb, a former journalist.

As an Amsterdam councilman, Mr Aboutaleb said in 2004 after the murder of film maker Theo van Gogh by an Islamist that extremist Muslims should adapt to life in the Netherlands or pack their bags and leave.

Mr Pim Fortuyn, an anti-Islam Dutch politician who was murdered in 2002, had his political power base in Rotterdam.

Mr Marco Pastors, a member of a party that adheres to Fortuyn's principles, said Mr Aboutaleb was the right person to continue Fortuyn's legacy.

'The fact that someone with these features can become mayor, we see as an honour,' he was quoted as saying by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. -- REUTERS