The hostage situation followed an armed robbery by (presumably) two men wearing balaclavas. An eyewitness reports The Parool that around 6 p.m. two men walked out of the Apple Store. When they saw the police, one of them grabbed a person under his arm and held a gun to the person’s head. The person was then taken hostage. Police reported on Twitter that someone was in or near the store with a firearm. Images are shared on social media of a man with a firearm holding another man at gunpoint.
The square has been evacuated, the police are asking everyone in the area to stay indoors. The police report that specialist units are on site to ‘get the situation under control’. There is a police helicopter hovering over the area. Emergency services such as ambulances, fire brigade and Marechaussee are also present in the vicinity of Leidseplein. The deployment of emergency services around the incident is increasing on Tuesday evening, vehicles drive back and forth, with flashing lights and sirens. As a precaution, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service (EOD) has also been deployed, a police spokesman told ANP news agency.
Multiple people sign up the Amsterdam channel AT5 heard shots. “I had to run for my life,” one of them told the channel. “I was standing on the zebra crossing opposite the Apple Store. There, an employee panicked and ran outside with a walkie-talkie shouting ‘robbery’. At that moment the penny hadn’t dropped yet and I wanted to cross the zebra crossing opposite the entrance to the Apple Store. But then I heard gunshots inside.”
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Visitors to cafes around Leidseplein must stay indoors, writes The Parool† Visitors to De Balie, right next to the Apple Store, were also not allowed to leave the building on the instruction of the police, because there was a risk of shooting, floor manager Dylan told the newspaper. “We went to a room in the back, away from the windows.” Around 6.30 pm the group (‘about seventy men’ according to Dylan) was evacuated by the police. “Suddenly a screaming officer was standing in front of the window, we were taken to the Museumplein via Max Euweplein. It’s like a video game with all the armed cops outside,” one of the visitors tells Het Parool.
The evening program in De Balie, which according to program maker Tim Wagemakers would attract about 150 people, has been cancelled. A performance scheduled at the nearby DeLaMar theater has also been cancelled. The International Theater Amsterdam, the former Stadsschouwburg, will also keep its doors closed. The exits at S106 in the west of the city are closed in connection with the police action, Rijkswaterstaat reports.
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