Gideon van Meijeren, an MP for the Forum for Democracy, has been reported to the police for allegedly inciting violence in a speech to farmers earlier this month, reports NOS.

He reportedly told a ‘Boeren Forum’ meeting in Tiel on Saturday July 2 that it is ‘important to realise that it is not always healthy if there is a taboo on the use of violence’, in a film put on social media.

‘The state uses violence, considerable violence,’ he reportedly went on. ‘And if you are in danger of being expropriated [forcibly bought out] and you refuse, you can count on vans coming with men with clubs and helmets, and they will knock you off your property.’

He referred to an article of Dutch law which says it is permitted to use force in self-defence or defence of another against unlawful assault.

Nilüfer Gündoğan, former Volt MP and now an independent, said that the speech was ‘the start of an erosion of the rule of law’ and has reported it to police as potentially unlawful.

Dutch News has asked the Forum for Democracy for a response.