Armed man forces way into Dutch broadcaster

An armed man claiming to be a part of a "hackers' collective" forced his way into the studios of Dutch national broadcaster NOS Thursday evening, brandishing a pistol and demanding to go on air, but was quickly arrested.

TV footage showed the man, who appeared to be in his 20s, wearing a black suit and tie and pacing back and forth in the studio with the weapon behind his back before police flooded the studio.

"Drop it! Drop it! And get on your knees!" police shouted before overpowering the man and putting him in handcuffs.

Police said the man demanded airtime and warned that bombs would go off at various locations around the Netherlands if his demand wasn't met.

"Realise that I am not on my own," the man reportedly wrote in a letter he took to the studio and that was aired on the news channel RTL. "Furthermore, eight high explosives have been planted that contain radioactive material. If you don't take me to studio 8 to make my broadcast, we will be forced to step into action."

No one was hurt in the incident, and the studios, located in the town of Hilversum, southeast of the capital of Amsterdam, had been evacuated as the incident unfolded. NOS reported on its website that the man, who had a silencer on his pistol, forced a security guard to take him upstairs to the broadcast studios.

Murky motives

On TV footage, the man can be heard saying in Dutch that he "wanted to talk about things that are of world importance."

"We were hired by intelligence services. We have heard things that call society into question," he said. "Once my message has been sent, we'll shake hands, and you'll be able to go home."

Dutch police are currently investigating the incident, and the man's motives remain unclear.

"We are currently investigating who this man is and what he wants," police spokesperson Christine Scholts said. The police were looking into claims that he had accomplices around the country with explosives.

NOS directer general Jan de Jong said police are continuing to comb the building.

Security measures have been ramped up across Europe since the jihadist attacks on the offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris this month, and after authorities foiled a purported Islamist plan to carry out an attack in Belgium.

bw/gsw (AP, AFP, Reuters)