The Hague stabbing had us fearing a copycat terrorist. But we had to keep cool until we knew all the facts

We have a duty to report responsibly so as not to stoke public fear unnecessarily

Gemma Fox
Tuesday 03 December 2019 01:10 GMT
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Police on high alert after the stabbing in the Netherlands city over the weekend
Police on high alert after the stabbing in the Netherlands city over the weekend

For the team running the news desk, learning that there had been a stabbing in the Netherlands just a few hours after the London Bridge terror attacks immediately raised fears that there had been a copycat incident.

At around 8pm on Friday, it was understood that several people had been injured in an attack on “a busy shopping street” in The Hague. Pictures and videos showed frantic scenes, with dozens of people screaming and fleeing down the street on a busy Black Friday evening in Grote Marktstraat, one of The Hague’s most popular shopping areas.

Police cars and ambulances quickly arrived as crowds were held back behind a red-and-white cordon. We were trying to understand whether it was indeed a terrorist attack, but nothing was being confirmed. By this point we knew that London Bridge was being treated as terror related, but we were still unsure of total casualties or the name of the attacker.

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