The municipality of Hoogeveen has started removing inverted Dutch flags. The flags hang from municipal property, such as lampposts and traffic lights.
It concerns hundreds of flags that hang in different places in Hoogeveen. According to the municipality, the illegally hung flags create unsafe traffic situations. The flag hangers were given until 2 p.m. to clean up the tricolor themselves. The inverted flags that have remained in place will be removed by municipal employees in the near future.
Today the municipality started removing the flags in question. That did not go without a fight everywhere in Hoogeveen. This led to a disturbance at the Raadhuisplein. There, some employees of the municipality were called names and they called their clean-up action.
“We have to see how we proceed. The plan to remove the flags remains in place,” says a spokesperson for the municipality. “We’ll see how it goes.”
The inverted flags are a symbol of the farmers’ protest against the national nitrogen policy. Mayor Karel Loohuis van Hoogeveen asks the activists to contact him. He wants to talk to them.
The removed flags are kept at the town hall. Rightful owners can pick up their belongings there.