A 76-year-old man from Made in Brabant has been arrested for homophobic abuse and trying to run down the town’s mayor in his car.

Mayor Boy Scholtze (32) was walking from the town hall in Drimmelen to his car when the suspect drove at him, forcing the council official to jump out of the way.  The man then shouted homophobic abuse at Scholtze, who is gay and married, and walked into the town hall where he continued to threaten and insult the mayor.

The man, who was earlier banned from entering the town hall because of his behaviour, was arrested by police, who are calling for witnesses to the attempt to run down Scholze.

“Not a great start to the week,” Scholtze commented on social media. “Aggression, intimidation and violence are never a solution. We should talk to each other.”

Scholtze has been mayor of the Drimmelen local authority area, that includes Made, for a year and is the youngest mayor in the country. He has been targeted before.

In June a paving stone was launched through a window of his house three days after he had moved in with his partner. “I would have preferred a welcome-to-Made bunch of flowers or a card,” he said at the time.