Horrible attack in The Netherlands

[papaver]

Today it's 'Prinsjesdag', a kind of 4th of July in the Netherlands. A crazy man took his car and drove into the crowd and nearly missed the bus where the royal family was in.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/30/netherlands.queen.car/index.html

:eek: :(

4 casualities, 5 critical wounded and 12 severely injured...

[PamNY]

Out-of-control cars are so frightening, whether it's intentional or not. What a sad, sad event.

Pam

[Zen]

That was a strange video. It looked like it was taken after he struck the crowd, the car seemed to be already wrecked :confused:

I'm always surprised when these type things happen in places other than the U.S.

[ny biker]

Something similar happened in DC during a festival a couple of years ago. The driver was on lots of drugs.

[papaver]

yes, it was after he struck all those people. It was intentionally, and he wasn't on drugs. It's a 38 year old Dutch male, with no prior convictions or medical history. Why he did it? No one knows.

[BikeDutchess]

I was shocked when I saw the footage this morning. One bicycle cop was just barely able to get out of the car's path right before he plowed into the monument.

By the way, it is not Prinsjesdag (which is the 3rd Tuesday in September), but Koninginnedag (Queen's Day). What was supposed to be a national day of celebration ended up with all flags at half-staff, so sad...

[papaver]

By the way, it is not Prinsjesdag (which is the 3rd Tuesday in September), but Koninginnedag (Queen's Day). What was supposed to be a national day of celebration ended up with all flags at half-staff, so sad...

Sorry my mistake. Apparently the guy was fired a couple of weeks ago and had some financial problems.

[Fujichants]

Oranje boven!

I miss Koninginnedag.

I'm also quite surprised this happened. Usually people don't have such hatred against our Queen.

[papaver]

Oranje boven!

I miss Koninginnedag.

I'm also quite surprised this happened. Usually people don't have such hatred against our Queen.

People like that crazyman hate everybody. If it wasn't the queen it was someone else. Like the babykiller we had a couple of months ago. :(

[Fujichants]

I didn't hear about the baby killer. What is this world coming to?

[papaver]

I didn't hear about the baby killer. What is this world coming to?

There was a 20 year old man in Belgium who went into a daycare center and stabbed 3 baby's and a nurse to death. Fortunately the daycare center was near a hospital so 5 other baby's could be saved. It was a real horror story.

[Fujichants]

Ugh! The worst I remember from Belgium was that Dutroux (sp?) guy. I haven't been to Holland and Belgium since 2002.

[Tri Girl]

That's horrible. How very sad. :(

I sometimes feel like we're the only country with crazy people who do horrific things like that (and the baby killer- what a demon). I guess there are crazies everywhere. I'm so sorry for your country. :(

[jobob]

I don't mean to diminish any of this at all -- those are both horrible occurrences, and of course I feel for the victims -- but it naturally make one wonder "what's this world coming to"?

In my opinion there have always been crazy people out there who, for one reason or another, take their anger out on others, randomly or otherwise. History of course plays that out, at least in the extreme cases.

I think we tend to hear about instances of such horrors more often nowadays, and in more faraway places, simply because we have access to more (and more immediate) news sources via the internet.

So I feel that in general, the world is not getting worse, we're just being better informed of what's happening in the world (for better or for worse).

Again, just my observation, not meant to diminish any of these occurrences.

[papaver]

@ jobob. I feel exactly the same. People haven't changed. It's just that the media is so advanced that the world has become a very small place. If a 100 years ago something happened in Chicago, people in L.A. would never have known about it.

Problem is that if something happens in the world (like Dutroux) other crazy people get inspired by that (like the two incidents in Austria where girls were locked up in basements for years and years).

[jobob]

Good point, unfortunately. :(