Another mayor seriously threatened: “I’m going to murder you”
Mayor Reinie Meilissant of Gorinchem has pressed charges of threats with the police. A man who previously threatened her at her home again confronted her on the street in Gorinchem on Monday and threatened to kill her, Rijnmond reports.
In the summer, the man from Gorinchem waited for Meilssant at her home. According to her, he said: “The time has come. I am going to murder you.” She fled into her home and called the police. However, because there were no audio recordings or witnesses, the Public Prosecution Service dropped the case due to a lack of evidence.
On Monday, the same man confronted her on the street as she walked past Gorinchem town hall. He shouted that he was an “autonomist,” did not have to listen to her, and that bullets were coming.
This time, there were many witnesses on the crowded streed. Bystanders tried to support the mayor while she called the police and later filed her report. The police are investigating.
According to the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), autonomists are “a sub-movement within a larger group of anti-government people.” The service estimates that there are about 10,000 autonomists in the Netherlands, according to Rijnomd. They believe that Dutch laws and regulations do not apply to them, and they no longer pay things like taxes and health insurance premiums. Conspiracy theories are prevalent within this group.
Melissant is the second Dutch mayor seriously threatened this week. On Monday, a 76-year-old man tried to hit Mayor Boy Scholtze of Drimmelen with his car at the town hall in Made after threatening and insulting him because of his sexual orientation.
