D.he Dutch police have stepped up protective measures for Health Minister Hugo de Jonge. The reason for this are several seemingly threatening incidents near the 54-year-old minister’s home in Rotterdam. A mobile police station with several surveillance cameras was installed there on Friday, as the ANP news agency reported. The police confirmed that “visible and invisible measures were taken” in front of the house of the Christian Democratic politician, who is also the deputy prime minister.
The private address De Jonges has been circulating on social networks for some time – combined with the call to spread it. In the past few days, a package classified as suspicious was found in front of the minister’s house, but it turned out to be harmless. Later, a masked man posted video recordings of himself in front of the house, reported the newspaper “Algemeen Dagblad”. Over the intercom, he asked to speak to the minister about the government’s corona measures. He was arrested on suspicion of threat.
A tough lockdown came into force in the Netherlands a few days before Christmas. The government justified this with the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Many citizens reacted with disappointment, but there were no major violent protests like in the previous months.