The campaign against wind farms in some parts of the Netherlands has become so extreme that protestors could be described as ‘radicalised’ according to the latest analysis of the security situation in the Netherlands by counter terrorism unit NCTV.

The protests may not have a ‘classic ideology’ behind them, but given the political aims, they can be described as extremism, the NCTV said.

‘At a local level, citizens take part in democratic protests against wind farms, but in Drenthe and Groningen in particular, the protests are taking on illegal form… threats, intimidation and vandalism are being used,’ the new NCTV report said.

Jan Nieboer, from the protest groups Platform Storm and Tegenwind Veenkoloniën, told broadcaster NOS he understands the concern. ‘I have heard that people have bought hand grenades and explosives,’ he said.

‘I’m not justifying this… but I do understand that people who are desperate take these measures. They feel as if they are being hunted down.’

In the Veenkoloniën, the area of peat fen in the east of Drenthe and Groningen, opponents say the landscape is being spoiled by turbines and that they have to face constant noise.

Locals are not opposed to green energy and ‘embrace’ solar panels, he said.