Vandals set fire to a rainbow flag outside an LGBTQIA+ club in Delft in the latest in a series of homophobic attacks across the Netherlands.

The attack took place in the early hours of Sunday, following a party at the DWH club on Lange Geer which finished at around 3.30am.

Club official Dries Stuij discovered the tattered remains of the flag, still hanging from its pole, the following morning. He told Omroep West it had been attacked deliberately but was unable to say how.

‘When I shared the photos of the scorched flag in a group app I could see straight away what a huge impact it had on our club,’ he said. ‘Members were shocked and it gives them the feeling that they’re not safe.’

Police said they were treating the fire as a deliberate incident and have appealed for anyone in the area with camera footage from the relevant time to get in touch.

Stuij said the club had been targeted several times in the last year, with members confronted at the front door and an electricity cupboard daubed in rainbow colours.

Other homophobic attacks in recent months have taken place across the Netherlands.

Last month a meeting for gay teenagers in Eindhoven was interrupted by a group of around 20 adults who tried to set a rainbow flag on fire, while five staff members were injured in an attack on Dorothy’s drag bar in Groningen at the Easter weekend.

A rainbow flag that was hung outside the town hall in Heiloo, near Alkmaar, as a gesture of support for the victims of the attacks has twice been stolen.