Police are investigating a firework attack on an orthodox Protestant church in Zuid-Holland, which comes just two days after a local journalist was kicked and punched for asking questions about the flouting of the coronavirus rules by worshippers.

Locals report hearing a blast at around 4.30am and police have found the remains of fireworks outside the Mieras church in Krimpen aan de IJssel. As yet, there is no indication about who planted the explosives at the church, which has opened its doors to hundreds of worshippers, despite the coronavirus restrictions.

Police are trying to find out if a film purporting to show the explosion is genuine.

The relationship between the media and orthodox Protestant churches in the Netherlands has always been fraught but the weekend events in Urk and Krimpen aan den IJssel show both sides are radicalising, religious history professor Fred van Lieberg told Trouw on Tuesday.

Confrontations between the media and the Dutch Bible belt are nothing new. During the 1971 polio epidemic reporters descended on the village of Staphorst to question the local church-inspired rejection of vaccination against the disease, the paper points out.

‘Things could get pretty grim in the past as well. The churches in question, the Mieras church and the Sion church are religious odd ones out and have a tradition of imposing church leaders,’ professor of religious history Fred van Lieberg told the paper.

‘But the events in Urk and Krimpen have a bearing on the reformed community as a whole. Adherents are open to conspiracy theories and this is now paired with anti-government, anti-corona measures and anti-media sentiments.’

According to Lieberg the aggression hides a fear of no longer being able to live according to deeply-held convictions. ‘They are facing a growing antipathy in society which condemns their opinions on issues such as gay marriage or vaccination. What has happened is a primitive explosion of anger that has been building up.’

Radicalisation in the media shows itself in a shift in the way the ‘refos’ are portrayed, from a quaint group of people to a dangerous group which is endangering public health, Lieberg said.

Explosion

Police are still investigating whether or not there is a link between the firework blast and with Sunday’s disturbances.

Krimpen mayor Martijn Vroom called the attack ‘unacceptable’. ‘I am angry and sad that this building which means so much to so many people in this village. It’s horrible,’ he said.