Crash: 7 Victims & Perpetrator Dead, 10 Wounded at Queen's Day 2009

[acdc1]

Sorry for being such a pain! Argument is dropped.

[Marengo]

Reverend Visser, the reverend of the Grote kerk in Apeldoorn, is talking about today. He talked to several policemen after they held sheets to shield the victims from the crowd, who of course were very emotional.

[MARG]

I am holiday and just got up and turned on Sky News for the 9am news. They announced they were not going to screen the whole incident and instead showed a short clip of the aftermath and the Royal Family on their feet with their hands to their faces in absolute horror. I had not realised that all the senior royals were in one bus!

Thank the Lord the children were not with them. As it is I think this will be a horror that will live in the minds of the Royal Family for the rest of their lives. While they were on show for all of their people lineing the street, that meant they also had a birds eyes view of the aftermath.

I am truely horrified at how close that madman came to hitting the bus! To watch the frantic scenes in the immediate aftermath was heartbreaking, the picture of a small child standing there all dressed up to celebrate and tears streaming down her face seemed to say it all. How a happy day turned to horror in a moment.

I was so impressed by the Queen when she addressed the nation on Television later in the day. Her strength is amazing. Her pain there for the world to see. Knowing someone hates you enough to do this in an attempt to kill you must be devastating.

My prayers are with our Dutch members, and all the people of the Netherlands, my condolences to the families of those who were killed and seriously injured or who are in shock.

[sgl]

I am so glad that the royal children were not present. My heart just breaks for all of the children who lined up so excitedly to see the royal family, and were then confronted with this horror. Are all of the members of the royal family okay? I know that they weren't physically injured, but I worry about Princess Aimee, who is very pregnant. Something like this could cause one to go into early labor in an extreme case. I hope that she is okay. Have any reports been issued about the royal family's current status?

[ricarda]

This is horrible, frightening, it seems nowadays you can't even attend a parade without taking the risk of being killed or hurt by an unscrupulous madman. My heartfelt condolences.

[Marengo]

They are phycically ok, but the queen was obviously very emotional.

Realizing that the car was aimed at them, and people died because a crazy man wanted to hurt them must be a horrible thought. Even more so when you have young children.

According to various television station the family went to castle het Oude Loo, next to the palace. HM's speech was recorded there too.

[iowabelle]

This is rather shocking... in the U.S. you sort of get the impression that this isn't likely to happen in The Netherlands.

I'm very sorry for our Dutch friends.

[Florencia]

My condolences to the Dutch people.

[ghost_night554]

I just got home and was finally able to watch the footage since my school has no flash so most videos don't work and wow the speech by Queen Beatrix was very moving, there were little subtitles in the video I watched so I was able to get most of what she was saying she looked deeply deeply upset obviously and close to tears. And the raw footage of the actual crash was so shocking, especially when they slowed down the footage I don't know what was worse the pictures or the videos.

[Kelly]

I am deeply shocked and saddened by such a turn in events. How awful! My most sincere sympathy goes to all the victims and their families.

[Vanesa]

THis is awful! I was especting this day from some time and...just see how it turned out! The only explanation I have for this is there is always people whose blood is bitter and cannot be happy, so they must destroy all society happyness too. I've read that when in Argentina we were ready to celebrate the Centenary of May Revolution (1810-1910), Anarchist began to put bombs everywhere just to ruine the whole celebration. The more sadly famous of these attacks was a bomb put at the Colón Theater, who injured a lot of people. Happyly, Centenary Celebrations were not suspended.When you read this, you'll suppose that after all this disaster, they must be lots of anarchist in Argentina. Well...no; there were only 1% of them in the entire country.I think that what happened shows clearly a similar situation: some few inadapted people wants not to Netherland to have a happy Queen's Day. THis very year, they won. But nex one, they WON'T. Vanesa.

[Penny Royalty]

I just got to read about this horrible evil. My sense of reasoning cannot understand why someone would want to hurt people in this way. I hope the Queen and family find condolence and sanity amongst this misery. Peace and love to all the Royals. May they resolve and rebound with our empathy.

[rominet09]

I think today will spoil all the next Queen's days in the future for them and a lot of people.

[TLLK]

Originally Posted by Marengo

They are phycically ok, but the queen was obviously very emotional.

Realizing that the car was aimed at them, and people died because a crazy man wanted to hurt them must be a horrible thought. Even more so when you have young children.

According to various television station the family went to castle het Oude Loo, next to the palace. HM's speech was recorded there too.

I have had similar thoughts all day. To know that so many people were present there to see the Queen and her family shows how populare the Oranges are in the Netherlands. Know that the victims, their families and the people of the Netherlands are in my thoughts and prayers.

[Beate]

I am deeply saddened and shocked by the events today. A day that should have been filled with fun and joy turned into tragedy. Innocent people lost their lives and it was for all to witness! My heart goes out to the Dutch people and also the royal family. This is very upsetting . You are in our hearts and prayers for sure..

[kyansaunt20]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Royal Family and the Dutch people. I have been away from my computer today and just saw what happened. How awful that someone would do something like this and hurt innocent people.

[marmi]

When my radio alarm went off this morning I listened to the news as I was waking up. I was fully awake in time for the last story. This one. The radio said that a car had crashed through crowds at a parade in Holland, that several people were dead and many injured. It did not mention Queens Day, but I knew thats what it was. The last line said that Queen Beatrix expressed her shock and sympathy.

I have watched a few of the videos and like most here I dont seem able to comprehend it.
My condolences to the relatives of the dead and injured, those who were there, and to the Dutch people.
The RF must be living through hell right now, imagining.

[RoseMary]

What kind of person does this? It was even on the news in the US and Royal news usually doesn't make it over here.

It must have been a shock for the family to see that, people dying right in front of their eyes.

[Bones]

This is so horrible. I have read that this may be an "economy-related" crime as the man had recently lost his job and was about to be evicted from his house. Why his reaction to this was to attempt to wipe out the Royal Family who can say? Their wealth? If any of those were factors I can only say I hope this drives home the danger of people trying to stir up class hatred because of the hard times the world is going through right now. It is so senseless. Whether it is Marie Antoinette and the guillotine or Queen Beatrix and this maniac in his car people need to realize that killing some innocent person is NOT going to make anyone's life better. It is just horrid. Like some other have said, people over here tend to think of the Netherlands as an idyllic land of friendly people, picturesque windmills and tulips where things like this just don't happen. It's obviously not realistic but it seems to make the shock all the worse nonetheless.

My prayers and sympathies go out to all the victims, their families and the House of Orange.

[suztav]

My condolences to Her Majesty and the Dutch people.