Almost a quarter of all city councilors have been threatened

Twenty-two percent of municipal councilors have been threatened at some point, either orally, online, physically or at their homes, according to a survey of 55 municipalities by De Telegraaf. Among those threatened, almost a third of them are women.

The results show that 70 percent of politicians who report being harassed are threatened orally, while 67 percent of those council members were threatened via social media, De Telegraaf reports. In addition, the survey found that a whopping 28 percent of city councilors had experienced intimidating situations at their homes. Twelve percent also had to deal with physical attacks.

Such threats have some council members considering resignation, and they also make it harder to find people who are willing to join the city councils. The findings match up with an earlier survey by NOS that concluded threats and violence against city council members have tripled over the past few years.