Five people were arrested in Wageningen on Monday morning for disrupting a speech by defence minister Ruben Brekelmans during the Liberation Day celebrations.

Police said the demonstrators had climbed over barriers that were in place to hold back the crowds. Several voices were heard shouting “Free Palestine”.

Brekelmans paused his speech several times as police removed the protesters before addressing them directly.

“The monster of war is back with us in Europe again, raising a fundamental question,” the minister said. “Do we look away or do we stand up?”

“I say this also to the people we just saw here: let us hold on to each other and not be driven apart — that is the task we all face.”

Earlier in the day, a group of 200 to 300 people had gathered along a main road to protest at the arrival of prime minister Dick Schoof and Martin Bosma, parliamentary party leader and representative of the far-right PVV.

The protesters held an 80-metre-long “red line” made of fabric, saying Schoof bears responsibility for “a cabinet that refuses to draw a red line against the large-scale violence committed by Israel, despite overwhelming evidence of genocide against the Palestinian people”.

They also carried signs with slogans such as “Not then, not now, never again”, according to local broadcaster Omroep Gelderland.