The explosive comments were delivered by Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok during a private meeting attended by some 80 people working for the Netherlands’ international organizations. Footage of Blok speaking to the audience via video link was leaked to the current affairs program Zembla on Wednesday, and the inflammatory remarks promptly spread through the Dutch media.

“I have asked my ministry this and I will pose the question here as well,” Blok can be heard saying in the video. “Give me an example of a multi-ethnic or a multi-cultural society, in which the original population still lives, and where there is a peaceful cohabitation. I don’t know one.”

The minister went further and said it might be all fun and games to go to a “Turkish bakery on Sunday” if you live in a well-off part of a city, but a “number of side effects” promptly become tangible if one lives in a migrant-packed neighborhood.

“You very quickly reach the limits of what a society can take,” Blok stated.

One of the event goers gave Suriname as an example of a peaceful multicultural society. Bok, however, brushed off the claim, branding the former Dutch colony “a failed state.”

“And that is largely to do with the ethnic divisions,” Blok said.

Singapore was then given as an example of such a society. Blok agreed with that to a certain degree, stating, however, that the tiny South Asian country is actually very careful in its migration policies. “Singapore is indeed a mini-country, extremely selective in its migration,” Blok stated. “They do not allow poor migrants. Yes, eventually, possibly for cleaning.”

The minister also casted doubts on whether an agreement between the EU countries on “equal” distribution of migrants can actually be reached. Extreme levels of xenophobia, which allegedly persist in Eastern Europe would not allow the EU to “force through” such a deal, Blok claimed.

“Walk along any street in Warsaw or Prague. There are no colored people. These people are gone within a week, they get beaten to a pulp. They have no life there,” Blok stated. “I don’t think we are going to manage to force through an agreement at a central European level that every country will take the same number of refugees. Eastern Europeans will never agree.”

The Zembla program approached the minister for comment over his fiery speech at the event. Blok explained the speech was designed to spark a discussion, yet it was not quite suited for a larger audience.

“My role in the Q&A session was partly to stimulate. I used examples in the closed meeting which could be unfortunate in public debate,”he told Zembla.

The debate turned out to be larger than the minister expected, since a number of Dutch politicians – left-wingers, primarily – reacted angrily to his remarks. Labor MP and former foreign aid minister Lilianne Ploumen described Blok’s speech as “extremely unprofessional” and filed parliamentary questions on whether his remarks represented the cabinet policy. Others condemned the “crude” wording of the Blok speech and demanded that he explain it.