In the coming days, Member of Parliament Derk Boswijk (CDA) will stay at home and will not go to work in The Hague, he writes. on Twitter† Protesting farmers visited his family on Tuesday evening, while he was still at work. His children aged 4 and 7 were at home. Farmers were also present at the house of Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Christianne van der Wal (VVD) on Tuesday evening. They broke through a police barrier there.
The House of Representatives will debate the farmers’ riots on Thursday evening, with Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) and Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius (VVD). GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver requested the debate together with the Party for the Animals. Klaver is “shocked” after seeing the images of Tuesday evening and also mentioned his concerns about the report that Derk Boswijk is not coming to The Hague due to threats.
“This way of demonstrating serves no purpose,” Boswijk writes. “Stop it!” The agricultural spokesperson for the CDA says that he wants to continue with “what needs to be done” – reducing nitrogen emissions – because “the vast majority of the agricultural sector consists of hard-working people who want to contribute to the major social tasks”. It is not known how many farmers were there and whether they came with tractors.
The police say they cannot report anything about the incident with Boswijk at home, except that they are “in contact with him”. It is not clear whether agents have been deployed to a threatening situation at Boswijk’s home.
Threats
The CDA MP has been the target of threats before. For example, the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security advised Boswijk not to go to the farmers’ protest in Stroe, Gelderland, last Wednesday. He called it “not an option not to go” and attended the protest anyway. MPs Tjeerd de Groot (D66) and Thom van Campen (VVD) did not go for the same reason. Boswijk told ANP news agency afterwards that he had not felt unsafe during the demonstration, and that farmers he spoke to were shocked that serious threats had apparently been made.
Protesting farmers have also visited the home of nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal several times in recent weeks. They broke through a police barrier on Tuesday evening. A police car was pushed aside and vandalized to make room for their tractors. Her family would have been home, but the minister herself was not. Also Monday evening a small group of farmers appeared at her house. On 10 June they visited the minister at home for the first time.