The scene made the rounds of the Dutch media.
On CCTV footage of downtown Urk, north of Amsterdam on September 11, several young people in Nazi uniforms threaten passers-by with weapons.
A little later, they mimic the execution of a man in white and black striped pajamas, sporting the yellow star.
"
This behavior is not only highly reprehensible and highly inappropriate, but also hurtful for large populations
", reacted the town hall.
According to the local newspaper De Stentor, these young people "
had a party in the industrial area, then went to the city center
".
On the sidelines of an anti-sanitary measures rally, they would then have walked around the city center, frightening passers-by, before miming an execution.
An investigation has been opened.
At this point, no links with neo-Nazi groups have been discovered.
“
We understand that these young people want to make their voices heard on the impact of current and future corona measures.
[...] However, we do not understand the way they do it.
Not only the municipality of Urk, but the whole community completely disapproves of this method of protest,
”Mayor Cees van den Bos explained in a statement.
On Friday, September 17, police arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of illegal possession of firearms as part of the investigation into the young people.
According to Hart Van Nederland, they would have disguised themselves as Nazis to protest against the sanitary measures.
A few days earlier, they had expressed their regret: “
Last Saturday evening, there was a costume party where a border was crossed.
We realized after a while,
”they write.
“
We want to stress that we are absolutely not anti-Semites or against Jews, nor support the German regime.
Our sincere apologies
”.
Urk, a city like no other
Urk, where the events took place, is a special Dutch town.
Indeed, the riots against the curfew in January began in this city of 22,000 inhabitants.
According to France Info, the city has 26 temples and a majority of ultra Protestants.
An anti-Covid testing center was torched the same month and journalists were attacked in March.
In addition, the city has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, 23% compared to 70% nationally according to Our World In Data.
“
We think God doesn't want that, God wants life.
We are his creatures, and we must not take the life of anyone to create a vaccine,
”estimated a resident of our colleagues at France Info.