Attempted attack on Dutch royal family leaves 5 dead

[kydnav]

Five people were killed Thursday after a man tried to attack the Dutch royal family during a Queen's Day celebration by crashing his car near the royal family's bus, Dutch police said.

Authorities are not releasing the name of the man, but said they have charged him with with trying to attack the royal family.

Twelve people were injured in the incident in the Dutch town of Apeldoorn, about 45 miles east of Amsterdam, police spokeswoman Esther Naber told CNN.

Crowds had lined the streets to see Queen Beatrix and her family ride by in an open-top bus during the Netherlands' annual holiday.

As the bus moved along, a black hatchback zoomed past it. The crowds were behind barriers off the road, but security officials and journalists, including many cameramen, were in the road as the car went by.

Members of the royal family saw the crash and gasped, then quickly sat down as the bus continued driving.

The driver is in the hospital, badly injured, Naber said. He is among the five seriously hurt -- three men and two women.

Queen's Day is a national holiday in the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba. The tradition started in 1885 and celebrates the birthday of the queen.

Although Queen Beatrix's birthday is January 31, she officially celebrates her birthday April 30, according to the Dutch government.

Queen's Day is known for its free market all over the country, where anybody is allowed to sell things in the streets. Other activities include children's games and musical performances.

The day is marked with the color orange all over the country as a reference to the colors of the royal family, who come from the House of Orange-Nassau.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/eu...car/index.html

When I was in the car going home I heard there were still about 5 or 6 people critically injured, amongst them a 16 year old, a 15 year old and a 9 year old.. 1 of the 5 people that died was a 7 or 9 year old girl..

I'm truly sickened by this

[MakiSupaStar]

Yeah. We saw it mentioned in Muuser's Queen's day thread. I didn't know that people actually died in the incident.

[Joe Gress]

Was he drunk?

[kydnav]

Originally Posted by joeinsprings

Was he drunk?

I don't think so, the man was spotted earlier by policemen when he tried to get passed barriers but was sent away. A little later he rams through 2 other barriers and and through the crowd. He barely missed the bus with the royal family..

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

Yeah. We saw it mentioned in Muuser's Queen's day thread. I didn't know that people actually died in the incident.

It wasn't made public at first. The attack happened at 11:50, at first there were 2 confirmed deaths a couple of hours later there were 4 and when I came home about an hour later there were 5. The attacker is still in critical condition and probably brain dead.

[GregC]

I just watched the clip. Terrible.

[Relic]

ugh this is terrible!! What the heck is wrong with some people?!

[MakiSupaStar]

Looks like the car was damaged before it wrecked at the end there too. I suspect it hit a few things (hopefully that's not from people) before it slammed into that statue.

[kydnav]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

Looks like the car was damaged before it wrecked at the end there too. I suspect it hit a few things (hopefully that's not from people) before it slammed into that statue.

It's because of the two barriers he drove through and sadly all those people, the guy drove faaaast.. A suzuki swift isn't exactly as tough as a hummer

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I saw that on Sky news while in the train station today, pretty nuts!

Didnt realise the guy was in the hospital and out of it though, the report made it out to have been a confirmed/planned attack at the royals?

[kydnav]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

I saw that on Sky news while in the train station today, pretty nuts!

Didnt realise the guy was in the hospital and out of it though, the report made it out to have been a confirmed/planned attack at the royals?

It was definitely an attack on our royal family. When he hit the monument he was still conscious and the police reported that in that time he confirmed he meant to hit the bus with the royals

[kydnav]

I'm also kinda afraid what this is going to mean for the future over here..
Queensday isn't going to be the same anymore and our royal family and their 'hands on' approach towards the dutch people certainly isn't either..
You see, we're quite fond of our royal family and it's mainly because they don't have the whole holier than thou-attitude.. They would often break protocol to have a quick talk or photo with whoever was asking, lots of public appearances with minimal security, simply because they could. It has never been a hazard.
This guy is changing a lot.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Ah right, that makes sense (well, not really in regards to the whole situation), totally screwed up

[Joe Gress]

Originally Posted by kydnav

I'm also kinda afraid what this is going to mean for the future over here..
Queensday isn't going to be the same anymore and our royal family and their 'hands on' approach towards the dutch people certainly isn't either..
You see, we're quite fond of our royal family and it's mainly because they don't have the whole holier than thou-attitude.. They would often break protocol to have a quick talk or photo with whoever was asking, lots of public appearances with minimal security, simply because they could. It has never been a hazard.
This guy is changing a lot.

That sucks. They sound like pretty cool people.

[anyonefortennis]

Maybe he is outraged cause the alleged queen to be is not even Dutch!!

[kydnav]

Originally Posted by anyonefortennis

Maybe he is outraged cause the alleged queen to be is not even Dutch!!

As far as authorities have made public he was simply angry and just wanted to die.. He was divorced, lost his job a couple of months ago and because of that he couldn't pay his rent anymore and today he would've been evicted.
Sadly the bastard died so we'll never know the full story behind it.

(and there have been several members of our royal family that aren't of Dutch origins; our current queen was married to a German and her mother was married to someone from the great duchy of Saksen (which nowadays is part of Germany) and Maxima is far more popular than Prince Claus (deceased husband of queen Beatrix) ever was )

[Muusers]

Originally Posted by kydnav

I'm also kinda afraid what this is going to mean for the future over here..
Queensday isn't going to be the same anymore and our royal family and their 'hands on' approach towards the dutch people certainly isn't either..
You see, we're quite fond of our royal family and it's mainly because they don't have the whole holier than thou-attitude.. They would often break protocol to have a quick talk or photo with whoever was asking, lots of public appearances with minimal security, simply because they could. It has never been a hazard.
This guy is changing a lot.

Yeah, next year's gonna suck! More security everywhere, everything scaled down, probably limits on alcohol and stuff.

[Muusers]

WEAK. CNN edited the video, the car didn't drive THAT fast.

Link to the proper footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AMcP...eature=related

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by anyonefortennis

Maybe he is outraged cause the alleged queen to be is not even Dutch!!

You mean you get royal families that are national to the countries they are royalty to?

[kydnav]

Right now there's 7 people that have died (including the driver) and there's still 1 in the hospital in critical condition..

[Happynoj]

Did you see that guy on the bike who only just got out of the way? If he had been a tiny bit slower he would have been sandwiched between the car and the statue!