Dutch police are trying to establish who is responsible for hanging a swastika flag from a motorway bridge in Gelderland on Saturday night.

The flag was spotted next to burning grass on the A1 at Stroe, where a mass rally by farmers was held several weeks ago.

It is illegal to hang swastikas in the Netherlands and police say they are using all resources at their disposal in an effort to track down the perpetrators.

Locals reacted in shock to the use of the flag, a symbol of Nazi Germany. ‘This is absolutely nothing to do with us,’ one farmer told local broadcaster Omroep Gelderland. ‘It is a scandal.’

The Dutch farmers’ protests have been gathering significant support from right wing groups, including those abroad, with former US president Donald Trump telling supporters last month that they are fighting against the ‘climate tyranny’ of the government.

The Dutch flag hung upside down, with the blue stripe on top, has become a symbol of the protests against the government’s plans to cut nitrogen compound emissions, reflecting a popular but untrue belief that it represents a distress signal.

Some local authorities have received threats for removing the inverted flags that have been attached to public buildings and lamp posts.