Mayor Joris Bengevoord: „I distance myself from this aggression and threats. Employees simply have to be able to do their work safely. This does not fit at all with how we are used to interacting with each other in Winterswijk.” The inverted flags have been hung all over the country to protest the cabinet’s nitrogen policy. Some groups resent this use of the flag.
Also in Oldebroek in Veluwe, a man was attacked on Tuesday who was busy removing inverted flags. Mayor Tanja Haseloop-Amsing is furious about this. While the man was working, a truck stopped next to his vehicle. The truck driver took car keys from the flag remover’s car. He tried to get his keys back by standing on the footboard of the truck, but the truck driver accelerated and the man had to jump away. “Mega-bizarre,” Haseloop calls the incident. The attacked man has filed a report and the municipality thinks it will do the same.
Phone numbers on Telegram
On social media such as Telegram, phone numbers of companies clearing farmer blockades on highways appeared Wednesday morning. That is called “treason.” Some companies have stopped cleaning up because of the threats. Police are monitoring these online messages, a spokeswoman said. If there are calls to commit criminal offences, that is sedition and that is punishable. In such cases, the police intervene in consultation with the Public Prosecution Service.
From August 5, the province of South Holland will remove protest flags and banners that have been hung along roads, at intersections and on viaducts. “We receive a lot of reports about flags and banners that can pose a danger to road safety,” explains the province. The most dangerous protests have already been cleared up.
“The right to demonstrate is a great asset in our country. This right does have limits,” said the province. “Where the safety of others is at stake, where someone else’s property is used without permission, this right ends.”