AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch police stated on Tuesday they’d despatched particular items to a central sq. in Amsterdam as a result of a person with a gun had taken one or extra folks hostage at an Apple store there.
Several video clips on broadcaster AT5’s web site appeared to indicate an individual being held within the store at gunpoint.
“There is an individual with a firearm within the store … police forces are there with many items and specialist items at the scene to get the state of affairs underneath management,” Amsterdam police tweeted.
“We are limiting details about the state of affairs within the Apple Store … so as to not upset our investigation and efforts there,” they stated. They later confirmed the state of affairs is a hostage-taking, with out specifying what number of hostages there have been.
Police cleared the sq. and requested neighbors to stay inside and never come exterior to look at.
The Apple store is situated at one finish of the upscale Leidseplein, a sq. at the south aspect of Amsterdam’s centre.
The Netherlands’ largest metropolis noticed a spate of 4 armed robberies of cell phone shops in 2021, prompting some shops to take away most of their telephone provides, which have been being focused. None of the robberies had been within the metropolis centre nevertheless.
Gun violence isn’t unusual within the Netherlands, however hostage takings are extraordinarily uncommon.
In 2015 a person with a gun broke right into a TV studio demanding display screen time. No one was injured and the person was later convicted of hostage taking.
And in 2002 a gunman took hostages at an workplace constructing he mistakenly thought belonged to Philips Electronics. He killed himself and didn’t hurt any hostages.
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Howard Goller and Jonathan Oatis)
