PM Rutte turns Dutch against each other: Green party leader

With his "if you don't like it, leave" campaign Prime Minster Mark Rutte is deliberately turning Dutch people against each other in order to win the election, according to GroenLinks party leader Jesse Klaver. Rutte (VVD) published a full page letter in various Dutch newspapers calling on everyone to act "normal" and if they don't like it to leave the Netherlands.

According to Klaver, with this Rutte is giving others the go ahead to say "fuck off to your own country", he said in Utrecht on Monday, AD reports. He believes that Rutte "crossed the line of democratic decency". "He deliberately turns people against each other, just to win the elections", the GroenLinks leader said.

Klaver said that Rutte runs the Netherlands like a company, and he is in charge. "If you do not fit into his philosophy, then you can get out. That is not how democracy works."

Rutte's letter to "all Dutch" resulted in criticism from numerous sources, including from other political parties, the New York Times - which called it a Trump-like tactic - and Amnesty International.