Local farmers, Jewish interest group 'disgusted' by Nazi flag in Stroe
In Stroe, the flag with a swastika that was hung on a bridge sometime Saturday night has been taken down. Local farmers condemned the action and said they had no hand in it, according to Omroep Gelderland.
They were joined by CIDI, a Jewish and Israeli interest group, in speaking out against the flag. "This is exactly the flag of Nazi Germany. We often see graffiti with a swastika, but this flag is associated even more quickly with hatred and violence," Aron Vrieler of CIDI told Omroep Gelderland.
Deze vlag hing vanochtend in #Stroe. Een symbool van haat, zeer pijnlijk voor mensen die WOII hebben meegemaakt, en hun kinderen. Je kan nog zo boos zijn over dingen die er (politiek) gebeuren, de vergelijking met Nazi-Duitsland is pertinent verwerpelijk, onsmakelijk en kwetsend pic.twitter.com/dQrGe2UoD1
— CIDI (@CIDI_nieuws) August 7, 2022
The flag was hung over the A1 near Stroe and found alongside piles of burning tires. Several hay bales were also found on fire the same night along the A15. In farmers' protests in recent days, demonstrators have heaped rubbish on the highway or burned piles of waste along the side of the road to protest the Cabinet's proposed nitrogen emissions plan.
However, farmers in the area denied having anything to do with the Nazi flag. "We don't do this. Disgusting, these actions," one farmer told Omroep Gelderland.
Farmer Gert-Jan Brouwer told Omroep Gelderland the action upset him. "There's been so much grief here during the war and then they're going to put up a flag like that here," he said. "I called a colleague of mine this morning. He said, 'I'm going to pull the head off the torso of whoever did this.' This really isn't possible. Nowhere."
BoerBurgerBeweging MP Caroline van der Plas said people should not speculate until more is known about who hung the flag. Displaying such a symbol is an offense in the Netherlands. The East Netherlands police said earlier that they had not dealt with such flags in the past.