Car attack on Dutch royal family leaves five dead
Queen Beatrix consoles a speechless nation after 'terrible tragedy'
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Five people were killed in Holland after a speeding car crashed through barriers and ploughed into spectators attending a royal parade, in a terrifying attack believed to be targeted at the Dutch royal family.
A black Suzuki Swift, driven by a 38-year-old man, charged at high speed through police barriers and crowds of spectators, missed the royal open-top bus by just metres and crashed into the foot of a memorial column in Apeldoorn, a small town 90km south-east of Amsterdam.
Television footage showed the car, with its roof and bonnet already crumpled from smashing through the crowd, racing past the royal bus in bright sunshine and slamming into the column. Other film showed bodies being hurled into the air and members of the royal family hiding their faces in shock and dismay.
"I think that it has become clear that this happened with premeditation," said the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
The driver – a shaven-haired Dutch man with no police record or known political affiliations – was badly hurt in the final crash but he survived. Pictures showed him apparently unconscious in the driver's seat with his face covered in blood.
"The man said that his action was aimed at the royal family," said prosecutor Ludo Goossens. "So far we have no indication that there is any link to terror (activities)."
The driver was "formally suspected of... an attack on members of the royal house and manslaughter or murder", the prosecutor added, and could face life in prison.
The Dutch media quoted neighbours as saying the man had been recently fired from his job and evicted from his home. Witnesses said that his car had been stopped and turned back earlier in the day by police. It remained unclear last night how the driver was able to breach security and charge through barriers, police lines and the crowds and almost reach the royal parade itself.
The fact that the attack happened in a small town on Queen's Day – the annual celebration of Queen Beatrix's birthday and of Dutchness itself – heightened the sense of shock and disbelief in the Netherlands. All other celebrations were immediately cancelled. Queen Beatrix, 71, made a national address in which, visibly upset, she said: "What began as a great day has ended in a terrible tragedy that has shocked us all deeply."
A Dutch journalist, Peter von de Vorst, said: "It was a really nice day. Then you hear a bang. Everyone looks up and you see people indeed flying through the air. [You think] this must be a joke or a strange prank. Then suddenly panic, and you realise that something really terrible has happened."
The Netherlands' reputation for tolerance and open-mindedness has been shaken since the assassination in 2002 of the populist politician, Pym Fortuyn. Arguments over immigration and the alleged threat to Dutch values from fundamentalist Islam have disturbed the once unruffled surface of public life.
All the same, an attack on or near to Queen Beatrix, a much-loved symbol of Dutch pride and unity, is likely to trigger an anguished flurry of national soul-searching. There were rumours earlier this week that Queen Beatrix might be preparing to abdicate as she approached her 71st birthday – the age at which her mother Queen Juliana stepped down.
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Comments
Please note: we are not American, we don't huddle together like frightened sheep, we don't run around like chickens with their heads off because someone says 'boo!' So stop pressing the alarm and panic buttons all the time.
And get your facts straight. There is no such country as Holland. It is the Netherlands, and Holland is one of the areas of the Netherlands.
Call yourselves a newspaper?
I don't need Wikipedia (with a capitalised 'W') to identify the name of a country with which I have been dealing for more than forty years.
Neither do I need some minor smartarse nitpicking my comments. If you agree, you agree, if you don't you don't. But check the beam in your own eye before calling me out, matey.
If you *are* Dutch, then you are a disgrace in your use of English, a language at which the Dutch people I know excel, You can't spell, you don't understand idiom - shall I continue?
This is all getting very stupid. A newspaper comments section is hardly the kind of place to be chucking your teddies out of the pram. You come across as the kind of immature child who needs the last word, so prove me right and go for it. I'm finished.
I totally agree with bogwart16 and and jamesf 976.
The irrelevant mention of the killing of Pim Fortuyn will associate this incident, in the minds of readers, with Islam.
The Brit media are very good at the 'lie by association'. The N. Ireland troubles are associated in most people's minds with violence by the IRA. The truth is that most of the killing, during that period, was the result of Loyalist violence frequently aided by the Brit controlled forces of 'law and order'.
The BBC and the rest of the media would report an atrocity, later proven to be the work of the loyalists/Brit forces. Their very next news item would start with something like "today the IRA bla bla bla..." Thus the atrocity was linked to the IRA.
I am sorry for the Muslims who have made their lives in the UK. They have much to endure. I am Irish. I lived in the UK in the 60's and 70's and know what it can be like. I had several visits from the Bomb Squad, although I had done nothing more than attend demonstrations. At the time the Brit legal system was fitting up the Birmingham Six.
They are, at present, employed in fitting up Muslim students aided and abetted by the Independent. This article creates the enabling mindset.
Even if they didn't do it; they are the only ones who could have done it.
The driver must have spoken to a Muslim before he smashed the car, or perhaps bought a pack of cigarettes from a Muslim shopkeeper; so they must share the blame.
Come on Pym; where are you ? We need you now; your chance to up the rhetoric on Muslims has come !
you might wanna start checking your facts before you shoot your mouth off.
Doesn't that describe a Skinhead ???
But the new political correctness seems to be that right-wing violence gets glossed over as ' incidents ' and skinhead outfit as 'alternative dress '
when Pim Fortuyn was killed all the right wingers where shouting ' the bullet came fro the left ' and ascribing collective guild to everyone who was political left .. will they take collective guild now ...
Between 1966 and 1999, the IRA and other Republicans were responsible for 2139 of the 3636 deaths, while Loyalist groups accounted for 1050, and the security forces for 367. It is also worth noting that while Loyalists murdered about 800 Catholic civilians, Republicans murdered 636 civilians of whom 198 were Catholics.
It is therefore simply untrue to suggest that 'most of the killing was the result of Loyalist violence'.
Rodrigo
Quote from David McKitterick in his article in the Independent on 31/12/01:-
"The statistics contradict the widespread perception of many casual observers who assume the IRA is the worst source of violence. While republicans have not ceased killings, the IRA has for some years been far outpaced by the loyalist paramilitaries.
The figures will be used in support of the argument, advanced in particular by media analyst, Roy Greenslade, that the media pays more attention to IRA activity than loyalist violence.
Statistics compiled by The Independent show that 14 of this year's troubles-related deaths were the work of loyalists. Two murders were carried out by the IRA and three others by other republicans.
This means loyalists were responsible for 74 per cent of deaths and the IRA for 10 per cent."
Do not imagine that I attribute infallibility to this, or any journalist. All journalism is an expression of the mindset of the writer. I have little respect for the intelligence of many of them.
The British media has been very successful in associating all N. Ireland violence with the IRA, although they haven't managed to pull that off in the Scandinavian countries who have an honourable history in such matters c.f. Palestine/Israel etc.
You obviously do not know Americans you Dutch idiot. You would be goosestepping and saluting the NAzi flag if it were not for us saving the Dutch who were huddled together like frightened sheep. Seriousl Who do you think your fooling moron ?
Fact 1: In common with other Nazi-occupied countries in Europe in WWII, the Netherlands had a very active underground resistance movement, comprising countless thousands of resourceful and courageous individuals who risked their own lives to shelter refugees and allied servicemen, defend their countrymen and help defeat the Nazis from within. So they were not all 'huddled together like frightened sheep' either. I think what bogwart16 might have been alluding to (perhaps a little clumsily) in his remarks was the tendency of the American public to be driven by hysterical, artificially-created panics about imagined threats to their safety and security (largely initiated and sustained by their media). The response of Europeans to such things as terrorists threats is, by contrast, generally somewhat more stoical, pragmatic and evidence-based.
Fact 2: Contrary to the gung-ho myths of military invincibility to which many Americans apparently still subscribe (even after Vietnam...), the Netherlands and the other countries of western Europe were not liberated solely by American forces; they were liberated by ALLIED forces, which included not only American servicemen, but servicemen from Canada, Britain, the wider Commonwealth and even some European countries under Nazi occupation (e.g. the Polish, who played a significant role as pilots in the RAF). And let's not forget the vital role played by the Russians on the Eastern Front, who divided Hitler's forces and distracted his attention from the Channel coast, without which the D-Day landings might not have been possible. So while Americans can certainly claim SOME of the credit for the liberation of the Netherlands, and Europe generally, they certainly cannot claim ALL of it!
You really do have an extraordinary ability to jump to all sorts of conclusions about people you have never met - and get them dead wrong.
I assure you I am the last person anyone could ever accuse of being a Marxist! As far as I am concerned, the guy was an idiot, and his ill-conceived ideas unleashed a pestilence of totalitarian regimes across the world, from Russia and Eastern Europe to China and beyond. The guy and his misguided followers have the deaths of (at least) tens of millions on their hands, and the needless suffering of hundreds of millions more.
But why, prey, do you call me a Marxist? Simply because I happen to know enough about the 20th century history of MY CONTINENT to be able to correct a few of your misapprehensions about it? Or perhaps it is because I dared to give the Russians some of the credit for defeating Hitler? Well, like it or not, those 'damned Commies' DID help to defeat the Nazis, and they deserve some credit for it (especially as they suffered far more from Nazism than any other country in WWII - some 20 million Russians died in the war, let's not forget.)
I never said Europeans should not be grateful for all that America has done for us, both in the Second World War and since. I, for one, am deeply grateful, which is why I am not one of those who routinely indulge in America-bashing on these threads.
And I can assure you that (most) Western Europeans do NOT like Communism (there will always be a deluded few on the political left who are determined never to learn the lessons of history, of course)! How could we, when we had to live cheek-by-jowl with Warsaw Pact countries, under the constant fear of invasion and war, for over 40 years?
And, needles to say, Eastern Europeans most certainly do not like Communism, because they had first-hand experience of living under it for the same amount of time.
In fact, I doubt that you could find any continent on earth that has had more direct experience of Communism, and loathes it with greater intensity, than modern, post-Cold War Europe!
And it works: it gets publicity, it gets you called "militant" instead of murderer, it can even get a state to give you your own local law.
I am very fond of the Netherlands, and of the Dutch themselves.
I have friends in Amsterdam, and have enjoyed many happy and memorable visits there over the past twenty years (I regard Amsterdam as a 'second home', such is my fondness for, and familiarity with that wonderful city).
I have also attended the Queen's Day celebrations myself on several occasions (most recently, last year), and it is very sad that this much-anticipated and usually happy day in the Dutch national calendar, with its relaxed inclusiveness, party atmosphere and sense of fun, should have been marred by such a terrible event this year. No one deserves this, least of all the Dutch, who are some of the most decent, civilized and inoffensive people I have ever met. But I suppose no one can prevent or protect against sudden acts of madness by lone individuals.
Once again, my hearfelt sympathies go out to all of you. And I look forward to visiting your wonderful country again soon, in the Summer.
You can hurl stones at them, call them child rapers, and they'll still smile like dolts thinking they are loved.
Can't you get it through your thick Oprah watching skull that euorpeans want you dead at all cost???, you simple minded bafoon
And what drugs are you on, exactly? I recommend you see your doctor about changing your prescription, because they are obviously turning you into a raving psychotic.
And please see my comments elsewhere about my opinion of Americans - and then apologise, if you have the courage and decency in you.
What's with this freaking discussion about who is dumbest?? Or whatever the reason is for insulting every nationality here... It's unbelieveable ....
Stop with all the goddamn prejudice! haha
I am certainly not alone amongst my European kin in happening to like Americans generally (though I reserve the right to dislike a FEW of them intensely, of course...), and I too tire of the relentless America-bashing that I sometimes see on these threads. But please do not judge all Europeans by the attitudes of a few. And your comments regarding us, and our continent, e.g.
"You europeans have completely lost your minds. No wonder you have so many crazies! ..your old, rotting corpse of a continent.".
....really are a little silly, factually inaccurate and needlessly offensive.
Have you ever even left the shores of your own country and actually VISITED Europe? If not, I do recommend you do so soon. Not only will this prove a valuable education for you, but I am also sure you will have a very enjoyable and memorable time, and meet lots of very nice, friendly - and not at all anti-American - Europeans :o)
And I cannot recall ever reading a story or seeing a programme by the BBC which blamed the US (exclusively, at least) for the troubles in Northern Ireland. (Although it is undoubtedly true that the IRA did receive substantial financial assistance from 'patriotic' Irish sympathizers in the US at one time or another, the truth is that the sectarian conflict there was initiated and sustained by ancient tribal, political and - especially - religious rivalries amongst the Irish themselves.)
And I repeat my invitation for you to come to this 'rotting corpse of a continent', and see with your own eyes how mistaken you are about us.
What is the need for the aggression, does it really make you all happy? It is a magnified version of this selfish belief that you are right and hurting other people (physically or just their feelings) doesn't matter, that led to the incident you are commenting on.
I would like to make at least one of you smile so a wee joke- What's brown and sticky? A stick!
What's brown and sticky and runs round fields? A fence.
Giggle, it's good for you and i hear it makes you like longer ( :
Excellent post.
But in the so called "liberal" Dutch media the new political correctness makes it impossible to metion those facts ... Another skinhead who was involved in a well-known racist killing in the 80's even got the chanche to downplay the racist aspect of his crime as "an Incident" , "could have been anyone of any colour " ect ect ...