David Icke says Netherlands, other Schengen countries banned him for two years

The British conspiracy theorist David Icke says he is not allowed to travel to the Netherlands and the 25 other European countries in the Schengen area for the next two years. He shared a letter on his website, which he claims he received from the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). A spokesperson for the IND did not want to comment on Thursday evening.

On Thursday evening, the Cabinet announced that it refused Icke access to our country. According to Icke, this applies to the entire Schengen area for the next two years. The Briton was invited to speak during a demonstration of Samen voor Nederland on Sunday. The rally was initially organized on Dam Square, but the municipality of Amsterdam moved it to Museumplein due to fear of disturbances.

The letter Icke shared states that it is not inconceivable that his presence at the demonstration will lead to a disturbance of public order, for example, through confrontation between demonstrators and counter-protesters. “By granting you access to the Netherlands, you are given a platform to publicize your theories in person, and it can lead to a disturbance of public order or violence in the Netherlands, even if you do not explicitly call for this yourself,” the letter reads.

Last month, the Amsterdam mayor, police, and prosecutor’s office asked Samen voor Nederland to refrain from letting Icke speak because of his “anti-Semitic and hurtful statements in the past.” The organization never responded. The municipality also asked the IND whether it could deny Icke entry to the Netherlands.

Samen voor Nederland filed a lawsuit to stop the move of its demonstration to the Museumplein. The court in Amsterdam will hear the summary proceedings on Friday.

The municipality said it would stick to the move, even if Icke is denied access to the Netherlands, because he could still address the demonstrators via a video connection. Several counter-demonstrations, including from the Israel Information and Documentation Center (CIDI), have registered with the municipality. According to Amsterdam, the Museumplein has more space than Dam Square, and the police will have a better overview of the different groups of protesters there.

Icke is the propagator of a conspiracy theory that claims that humanity is secretly ruled by alien reptiles pretending to be human. According to critics, the reptiles are a metaphor for a (partly Jewish) elite. FvD leader Thierry Baudet has also proclaimed the reptile theory.