A Dutch lawmaker has been ordered by a court to remove social media posts comparing Dutch Covid measures to Nazi Germany.
He tweeted that those who have not been vaccinated are “the new Jews” and “those who look away from the exclusions” are “the new Nazis.” The Covid rules in the Netherlands block those without a vaccine passport from accessing most public and entertainment venues.
Baudet also posted an image of a Nazi concentration camp and captioned it: “How is it POSSIBLE to not see how history is repeating itself?”
Baudet’s post were accused of being offensive, prompting legal action from Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors.
Those who sued accused him of downplaying the Holocaust.
His lawyer argued that he did not mean to offend Jews but to show people where the Covid restrictions for the unvaccinated could lead to.
The court ordered him to delete the posts within two days or he would be fined €25,000 ($28,276) daily.
The judge argued that the posts were “pointlessly offending Holocaust victims and their relatives.”
Baudet described the ruling as an “incomprehensible, crazy ruling” and vowed to appeal.
“I just deleted the four tweets I had to delete from the summary judgment judge. Ditto for the Instagram and Facebook message,” Baudet said in a statement. “I am deeply sad that I am not allowed to express what I deeply believe, and I do not resign myself to it. We will certainly appeal.”
