Outrage about demonstrators with torches at Kaag

Prime Minister Rutte calls the waiting of minister Kaag yesterday by fifty demonstrators with torches “totally unacceptable”. According to the prime minister, it had nothing to do with demonstrating and was “purely intimidating”.

Minister Kaag of Finance was welcomed yesterday afternoon by a group of about fifty demonstrators in Diepenheim, in Overijssel. Part of the group carried flaming torches. Kaag talked to them for a short time.

Rutte thinks that the reception “exceeds all limits”. He points out that Kaag has been confronted with a torch before.

At the beginning of January last year, Amsterdammer Max van der B. stood in front of Minister Kaag’s house with a burning torch. He shouted slogans at her. His action was filmed and posted on social media. Van der B. was sentenced to five months in prison last Monday for threatening the D66 leader.

According to the prime minister, people are allowed to demonstrate anywhere in the country, but “this is totally unacceptable. A politician should be able to go anywhere”.

Rutte does not want to answer questions about whether the behavior of the demonstrators is related to the attitude of political parties when it comes to dissatisfaction of citizens. “This is not a matter for the government, we should not accept this together.” Rutte thinks that “we should all discuss this in this country”.

Rutte thinks that 99 percent agree with him that this is not possible:

The D66 minister was in Diepenheim to campaign for the elections for the Provincial Council. Then she participated in a political meeting in Herberg De Pol. Tractors were parked along the road to the cultural center. She couldn’t pass there by car and had to walk the last 150 meters. A group was waiting for her at the center. Earlier, a flyer of the activist group Combatants Twente was distributed. In it, residents of Diepenheim were called upon to give Kaag a “warm welcome”.

BBB leader Van der Plas cannot appreciate the action either.