Opposition MPs on Sunday said on Sunday they expected prime minister Mark Rutte to make a powerful protest about the US entry ban for all refugees and for people from seven Islamic countries.

D66 leader Alexander Pechtold and GroenLinks chief Jesse Klaver  were among the party leaders saying they regarded the short comment by foreign minister Bert Koenders as inadequate.

Koenders said on Saturday that he was concerned about the legality and practical consequences of the ban. ‘It is important that this does not lead to discrimination,’ he said . ‘We will keep a close eye on the way the measure is being applied.’

‘There are times when you should not remain still, that you should stand up,’ Pechtold said. ‘This is such a moment.’ Klaver said the ban conflicts with everything the Netherlands and US stand for.

Socialist leader Emile Roemer said the prime minister should have reacted immediately. ‘Banning people not because of what they do but because of what they believe… where is the prime minister when you need him,’ Roemer said on Twitter.

Holocaust

The prime minister did not refer to the ban while speaking at the annual Holocaust Memorial ceremony on Sunday.

In his speech, Rutte said remembrance is necessary ‘to give justice to all the woman, men and children who lost their lives under barbaric circumstances’ and who are ‘doomed to for ever remain nameless’. ‘Their names matter,’ Rutte said.

A spokesman for Rutte told RTL journalist Floor Bremer the prime minister did not wish to comment on Trump’s ban because ‘today is a day to remember’.

PVV leader Geert Wilders, however, said he would have taken the same action as Trump. ‘It is the only way to remain safe and free,’ he said. Wilders said he hoped Trump would add Saudia Arabia and other Muslim countries to the list.

Anne Frank

On Twitter a 2015 article from the Washington Post is being circulated which points out that Anne Frank and her family were refused entry to the US in 1941 because of ‘restrictive American immigration policies designed to protect national security and guard against an influx of foreigners’.

Earlier it emerged Dutch airline KLM has refused to fly at least seven passengers to the US after president Donald Trump closed the country’s borders to refugees and visa holders from a list of banned Muslim-majority countries.

All the people who were refused permission to fly had a visa for the US, KLM told broadcaster NOS. Two had tickets to fly from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. The other five were flying from different destinations and had planned to change planes at Schiphol, NOS said.

Rutte laat via woordvoerder weten niet te willen reageren op #Trump want ‘het is een dag van herdenken vandaag’. #HolocaustMemorialDay

— floor bremer (@floorbremer) January 29, 2017