Two masked men who climbed onto the roof of an Islamic school in Amsterdam have been arrested.

The pair claimed to be protesting against the opening of the secondary school in the Nieuw-West district in the name of a group calling itself Het Identitair Verzet (“Native Resistance”). They chanted anti-Muslim slogans and unfurled a banner with the slogan: ‘If you sow Islam you will reap sharia.’

AT5 reported that they assaulted and threw stones at school staff members who went up on to the roof to try to talk them down. The incident ended when police arrived and led the men away in handcuffs.

The Council of State ruled during the summer that the Muslim organisation Stichting Islamitisch Onderwijs could open a secondary school in the capital despite opposition from junior education minister Sander Dekker and the city council.

Parliament passed a law in 2015 banning the wearing of face coverings in schools and other public buildings, partly in response to pressure from the anti-Islam PVV party.