Man brandishing burning torch arrested at Sigrid Kaag’s home

A still from the live stream
A still from the live stream

A known conspiracy theorist brandishing a burning torch was arrested outside the  house of D66 leader Sigrid Kaag on Wednesday evening.

The man, named on social media as Max van den B, rang the doorbell shouting slogans and ranting about the World Economic Forum and the Dutch Nazi party NSB, the Telegraaf and AD said.

The same man was also picked up near the house of outgoing health minister Hugo de Jonge last month.

He was recognised from the footage live-streamed of both events on social media. The 27-year-old is also said to be a frequent attendee at anti-coronavirus measure demonstrations.

MPs have been shocked at the news, with D66 MP Rob Jetten saying these were the actions of ‘intimidating scum’. Fellow D66 MP Jan Paternotte said the event was ‘completely idiotic and incredibly threatening.’

‘People who attack our ministers attack our democracy,’ Paternotte said on Twitter.

PvdA leader Lilliane Ploumen and SP leader Lilian Marijnissen said the incident was ‘unacceptable’.

CU leader Gert-Jan Segers cited an earlier comment made by Forum voor de Democratie MP Pepijn van Houwelingen: ‘If you speak of ‘tribunals’ and ‘locking up political opponents’ than this is the sort of intimidation and threats you reap,’ Segers wrote.

Kaag, who will be sworn in as the new finance minister on Monday, is currently in quarantine because of a coronavirus case ‘in her close circle’.

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