Since I can't read dutch that well (and admittedly, don't go out of my way to peer at news headlines) or understand the "heel snel" newsreaders on tv ( admittedly, I don't go out of my way to watch the daily 8pm news here either... yes, 8pm news.) I usually have no idea what's going on in The Netherlands.
A double edged sword really. Ignorance really can be bliss.
So, imagine my surprise when I walked into the office yesterday and my colleague told me that there was a big drama on Tuesday night, in Dam square ( the main central square) infront of the war memorial monument, during the ceremony where the Royal family commemorate the Dutch war heros.
"There was a ceremony on Tuesday night? How can I live in this city and not know these things?"
Thinking, thinking, thinking....
Where was I? Oh yes, on the tram home past Dam square wondering why there was a lot of security surrounding it. Duh.
May 4th is the Dutch remembrance day, and May 5th is Liberation day.
On the Tuesday night before Liberation day, the dutch do their 2 minutes silence (double the respect the Australians give their war heroes?) and Queen Beatrix lays a wreath in Dam Square.
During the 2 minutes silence, a "drunken tramp" (using the Media's words) started screaming because he couldn't find his bike (?!) , startling the crowd, making someone drop a suitcase, and making a crowd fence barrier fall, which the crowd confused with the sound of gunshots and consequently causing a mass stampede of chaos. Another version claims the drunk man was talking on his phone and when someone told him to shut up, he started screaming, and the suitcase fell, and someone called out "Bomb, Bomb!"
Since the public asassination of Theo van Gogh, the film maker and Vincent's grandson, and also since there was an attempted attack on the Dutch Royal family at last year's Queen's day celebrations in the town of Appeldorn, there has been an underlying air of hypersensitivity at public events here, it seems.
The instinct to panic at large scale public events where the Royal family are present has been deemed as "Appeldorn syndrome".
Watch the events that unfolded below. And I had no idea that this all happened. Until 48 hours later.
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