No longer a conspiracy theory: Dutch farmers must make way for asylum seekers

“The province of Flevoland has bought nitrogen space in the Noordoostpolder. With the nitrogen space that has been freed up, the province can help a number of PAS claimants in the Noordoostpolder. This opportunity has arisen because the government has bought an agricultural business in the Noordoostpolder. The government wants to set up a registration centre for asylum seekers at the location of the farm,” reads the document.

“In this country, farming families who produce food are being exchanged for asylum seekers,” tweeted Beenen.

“Of course it is a conspiracy theory that all farmers in the Netherlands are being bought out because a lot of asylum seekers are coming to the Netherlands. Yet it does not help to send such letters as Flevoland province is in the middle of the nitrogen crisis,” responded entrepreneur Rutger van den Noort.

“The constant denial that immigration, housing, nature policy, agriculture and nitrogen/climate have anything to do with each other is laughable,” he added.

PVV-leader Geert Wilders also responded to the document. “Here’s the proof. It just says it all. The farmer has to go because they want to build a registration centre for asylum seekers on his land. They are completely destroying the Netherlands. Our farmers out, the fortune seekers in. No wonder people are furious,” Wilders noted.

Hier het bewijs. Het staat er gewoon. De boer moet wegwezen want ze willen op zijn grond een aanmeldcentrum voor asielzoekers bouwen.

Ze maken Nederland helemaal kapot. Onze boeren weg, de gelukzoekers erin. Raar hè dat mensen woest zijn. #boereninopstand #boeren pic.twitter.com/nIzp5bImBg

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) July 6, 2022

FVD group chairman Brent Hadderingh commented: “Farmers out, asylum seekers in. Really every caricature has been surpassed. Unashamedly.”

“According to people […] I spread ‘conspiracy theories’ when I say that farmers have to make way for migrants. It clearly says here: ‘The government wants to set up a registration centre for asylum seekers at the location of the agricultural business’. What’s a ‘conspiracy theory’?” asked legal philosopher Raisa Blommestijn.

The application centre will be in Bant, where about 1500 people live who do not welcome asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, countless photos and videos of the farmers’ strike against land expropriation in the Netherlands have circulated on the Internet, even though the mainstream media tried to ignore the protest. The situation escalated at the beginning of this week. The farmers have also been joined by fishermen and seafarers, blocking ports and thereby endangering the already fragile supply chains. The government, for its part, has called in armored personnel carriers.

The authorities have tried to put down the protest with tear gas and batons. The farmers responded with blockades, hay bales and manure. There appears to be no end in sight to their resolve.

Since Monday, supermarkets and ports have increasingly been the focus of the protests. German farmers have taken part in the rallies at the border crossings. Hundreds of farmers blocked the access roads to large supermarket warehouses with hay bales on Monday. More than 20 distribution centers of the large supermarket chains were affected.