In her declaration, the new Minister of Finance describes in detail how she experienced that evening. “I had that fear, because I don’t know why someone is standing in front of a house with a burning torch at that time.” Kaag was shocked by the size of the torch with which Max van den B. stood in front of her door. “It wasn’t a Christmas star, so to speak.”
The D66 leader describes how panic arose at her home when the man was suddenly there. “I had just finished work when my children came downstairs in a panic. I heard them shout, ‘Mom, Mom, there are people outside. they come for you! You should call the police.” Kaag was just sitting in her chair at the time and initially didn’t notice, she says.
‘Show yourself’
That quickly changed when she started taking stock. “This man walked up and down to our front door and together with a woman made videos of the inside of our house.” According to Kaag, more people would have stood between the cars behind the torchbearer. After some comments about Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum, the man with the torch is said to have demanded that the D66 leader come out. “I heard the man shout, ‘Look at you!”
In panic, they called for help. “I called 911 myself and my husband pressed the emergency button. We were afraid that the man wanted to set fire to our house. There was really a kind of panic. We really wanted to get that man out. Fearing that the man who said all those things about me would set our house on fire, we decided to press the alarm button.”
When the family thought the torchbearer had disappeared, Kaag, her husband and her son went outside to look. She describes that there were more people outside. A group – about eight people – was still filming on the other side of the house, the majority were wearing a black coat. Then the police arrived.
‘Shut up’
Kaag says in the report that the visit has a huge impact on her and her family, and that her children are anxious. “This incident proves that my children’s childhood home is not safe for them, my husband and me.” The Finance Minister even says that she felt more insecure than when she lived in war zones. “We have lived in strange places. I’ve lived in war zones, but something like this shouldn’t happen in the Netherlands. I can tell you that I have felt more insecure in this situation than when I lived in those war zones.”
According to the D66 leader, the aim is to have her stop her work through intimidation. “People want me to keep my mouth shut.” The torchbearer is still in custody. The woman who filmed has also been arrested.
The lawyer of co-defendant Eline van ‘t N. (44), Vito Shukrula, says in a response: “The client only filmed the man with the torch for a live stream and now the Public Prosecution Service believes that she has participated in a possible threat from Mrs. Kaag. The client vehemently denies this. She only wanted to report on this event from her role as a journalist for Injustice TV.” Office mate de Niels de Fluiter, who filmed the torchbearer, could not be reached for comment.
The two suspects will appear in court on Wednesday.