“It is not acceptable to create dangerous situations. It is not acceptable to bully officials,” he said last week. Back in Eerbeek, where protesters blockaded an industrial area home to 113 companies, Mr Rutte was accused of hiding and refusing to negotiate with farmers. “Where is our prime minister? This country is burning and the farmers are standing up to the government,” said an English-speaking spokesman, giving a hastily arranged news conference from atop a hay bale. “Their rules and regulations don’t seem to be political. The rules and regulations are ‘scientific’ and you can’t go against it,” they added. “We’re saying let’s make the rules and regulations in this country political again, let’s have a conversation and make it a choice.”
