Dutch television channel attack.

[Neobullseye]

So, I don't know if any of you have have heard it already on the news, but there's been a hostage situation on the NOS (A Duth national television channel which mostly deals in news broadcasting.). Thankfully it's already under control without any casualties, but still, it scared the crap out of me D:.


Short version (as I said, I don't know everything yet...)

A single armed man holding a hostage walked into the redaction's office, demanding some air time to spread his message. Exactly what said message entailed was not made clear, but according to a note the man had it had something to do with "Breaking news we want to spread that will shock the world" and "[them] behing hired by intelligence agencies. There [they] have heard things that will change your view on society" (translation may be somewhat off, but that's the gist of it).

At a certain time, the man saw that the police was coming. They entered the room and yelled "Drop your weapon!" The man obliged immediately. He was then ordered to get down on the ground, at which point the man was cuffed and taken into custody.

The man said that he was acting in name of a hackers collective. He was holding a letter which spoke about explosives. The police are currently searching for them.


Link to the moment of arrestation:

(Dutch, of course).


Update - Translation of the attacker's letter:

"If you read this, do not panic. Do not scream and do not try to warn your colleagues. Act like everything is normal. I am heavily armed. If you play along, you will not be harmed. Know that I am not alone. There are five more [attackers?], along with 98 hackers who are ready for a cyber attack. Furthermore, eight heavy explosives loaded with nuclear material have been spread across the country. If you do not bring me to Studio 8, we will be forced to take action. You do not want to be responsible for that, right? So then, lead me to studio 8, the NOS studio."

The letter then goes on, this time apparently written from the PoV of the hostages:
"We have been taken hostage by heavily armed men [although only one has actually been arrested, and no others have been found as of yet]. There are more of them across the country, and they have 98 hackers ready for a cyber attack. Furthermore, eight heavy explosives loaded with nuclear material have been spread across the country. They want to make a live broadcasting to tell their story. If this live broadcasting is interrupted in any way,they will take action. There are people on the outside to make sure the live broadcasting can be seen in the entire country. Their terms are thus, amongst others:
1 - The building will not be charged.
2 - The live broadcasting wll not be delayed, not interrupted nor delayed in any way, shape or form.
3 - There will be no information bar nor any subtitles added to the live broadcasting.
If these terms are fulfilled, we will be released. I will repeat it once more [repeats]".

I'll update this page as more information is released.

 

[Hellis]

The man appears calm and collected to non-native speakers. But from what the transcript on reddit tells me, the man is clearly unstable in some form. A conspiracy nut, who likely gotten triggered by obsessing over the recent years leaks regarding NSA and other intelligence agencies

 

[Neobullseye]

The man appears calm and collected to non-native speakers. But from what the transcript on reddit tells me, the man is clearly unstable in some form. A conspiracy nut, who likely gotten triggered by obsessing over the recent years leaks regarding NSA and other intelligence agencies

That's pretty accurate, yes. The problem is that doesn't mean that everything he said is false, especially the letter. Judging by the lack of consequences of his arrest though, the letter seems to be completely false too (thank god).

Minor update: For as far as it wasn't made clear in the OP, the man was not on any terrorist/jihadi suspect list, nor does he seem to be one. Not all that much is known about his identity at the moment: he seems to be a student in the Dutch city Delft, but that's about all I know.

A press conference is being held at this moment. I'll update you if it has any new information

EDIT: Minor update; the attacker is apparently a 19-year old man (?!) from Pijnacker. He was born in Zoetermeer. That's all the DA wants to/can confirm at the moment.

 

[Neobullseye]

Update: The weapon was apparently a very realistic looking fake weapon (which are just as illegal as real weapons in the Netherlands, for obvious reasons). So technically, there was never any real danger for everyone. However, seeing as the weapon looked real enough to threaten people into submission like that, the hostage situation wasn't any less real as we originally thought.