Manfred Smol, councilor for Forum for Democracy in Helmond, compares politicians such as Mark Rutte and Hugo de Jonge with Nazi leaders on Twitter. He also wishes them a bad death in Siberia. He does not do this on his official Twitter account, but on another account that Omroep Brabant came across.
Smol, the number two of Forum in Helmond, has been using an account on Twitter since the beginning of this year, on which he shares his opinion about politics and media under his own name. However, a second account still exists. He has been using that since 2010 and on this (under a false name) he is a lot more outspoken. Omroep Brabant established that the account belongs to Smol because in 2015 he publicly shared his telephone number with a Sunweb helpdesk employee. He still uses that number to this day.
Not the first time
It is not the first time that a local politician has been noticed for social media use. Just before the elections, it was Jan van Eerd’s turn, the number 2 on the list of Forum for Democracy in Eindhoven. He threatened Member of Parliament Kuzu (DENK) and called Hugo de Jonge a ‘mass murderer’ on Twitter.
The news caused a stir and Forum for Democracy launched an investigation, but Van Eerd was not removed from the list. It is unclear what the status of the investigation is. Van Eerd was not elected to the council, but has been working as a committee member for his party in Eindhoven since the elections.
‘Blood on their hands’
Smol’s statements are comparable to those of Van Eerd. He regularly posts photos of Hugo de Jonge and Mark Rutte in Nazi uniform. According to Smol, both have ‘blood on their hands’ because of the approach to the corona crisis. He also compares Rutte’s working method with that of Nazi minister Joseph Goebbels. He does this in dozens of tweets personally addressed to the politicians.
He also grants Rutte a ‘one-way ticket to Siberia’, ‘where you stay below freezing until your old death’, he writes.
He calls the Flemish virologist Marc van Ranst a ‘silent killer with a false agenda’ and an ‘inhuman who should be prosecuted’. He wishes PvdA party leader Attje Kuiken a similar fate.
Like many FvD members, Smol also threatens tribunals on his secret Twitter account, if it is up to him, many politicians are waiting for a ‘Nuremberg 2’, referring to the criminal trials that were held after the Second World War.
‘No idea’
Smol responds to the matter from his holiday address. He denies that the account in question belongs to him. “It means nothing to me, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The Fvd’er does indicate that he would like to come back to the case at a later time.
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