Dutch TV intruder 'loner'
January 30, 2015
The Netherlands' Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten said on Friday that initial investigations indicated a lone intruder who was not linked to Islamist terror had interrupted the main evening newscast.
Public news broadcaster NOS was forced off the air for around an hour during what would have been its usual 8 p.m. newscast, putting the Dutch nation on edge.
Images later showed an apparently armed man dressed in a black suit, speaking to a security guard and demanding airtime to read a statement in a studio that was otherwise deserted.
Five armed police officers burst in and arrested the man without a struggle.
'Worst nightmare'
NOS general director Jan de Jong (pictured above), speaking later, said already tight security would be reviewed once more at the broadcaster.
"This is your worst nightmare, especially after Charlie Hebdo," De Jong said, adding that "thank God" no one was injured.
He was referring to the attack on the satirical magazine in Paris on January 7 in which jihadists shot dead 12 people, including four cartoonists.
Site already guarded
NOS, based in Hilversum, 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Amsterdam, has been guarded for years, since populist Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was gunned down on a parking lot by an animal rights activist in 2002.
"We don't want to turn this into a bunker," De Jong added, referring to the Hilversum media park, which is home to various media outlets.
De Jong praised the security guard.
"I was amazed at how unbelievably calm he was," De Jong said.
Extra measures for press
Hilversum major Pieter Broertjes said extra measures had already been instituted since Charlie Hebdo's bureau and a Paris kosher supermarket were attacked.
"We know that since the Paris attacks the press itself has been the focus of attention. You never know when it can happen," Broertjes told a press conference.
Dutch media reported widely that the suspect had been identified as Tarik Z. and that he was a student at Delft Technical University.
Prosecutor Johan Bac said the man was from the small town of Pijnacker near The Hague. He was being held on suspicion of making a threat, weapons possession and taking a hostage.
NOS later broadcast video footage of the incident, in which the suspect told someone off camera that he represented a "hackers' collective."
"We were hired by intelligence services. We have heard things that call society into question," the suspect said.
Five police officers then overwhelmed the suspect. A police voice then said: "The situation is under control."
ipj/tj (dpa, AFP, AP)