1977 Dutch school hostage crisis

1977 Dutch school hostage crisis
1977 Dutch school hostage crisis
	The school after the military intervention
Location	Bovensmilde, Netherlands
Coordinates	52°58′30″N 6°28′46″E / 52.9751°N 6.4794°E
Date	23 May – 11 June 1977
Target	Primary school
Attack type	Hostage-taking
Weapons	Guns / handguns
Deaths	0
Perpetrators	Moluccan youth (4 perpetrators)
Motive	A free South Moluccan Republic (Republik Maluku Selatan)

On the morning of Monday 23 May 1977, four armed South-Moluccans took 105 children and their five teachers hostage at a primary school in Bovensmilde, Netherlands. At the same time nine others hijacked a train in the nearby De Punt. Both hostage crises lasted for twenty days before being ended by military interventions.

Context

The South Moluccans had arrived in the Netherlands for a temporary stay, promised by the Dutch government that they would get their own independent state, Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS). For about 25 years they lived in temporary camps, often in poor conditions. After these years the younger generation felt betrayed by the Dutch government for not giving them their independent state and they began radical actions to gain attention for their cause.

Developments

23 May: On 09:00, when the hostage crises began, the children were forced to cover the windows with newspapers, preventing the outside world from knowing what was happening inside.
25 May: The day of the elections for the national parliament. To increase pressure on the government, the children were forced to shout out of the windows: "van Agt, we want to live". The first ultimatum expired at 14:00 without any problems. Later that day, additional demands were expressed.
27 May: All the children were released because many children had become ill from some unknown disease. The cause and nature of these disease was still unknown, but it was often speculated that the provided food might have been deliberately poisoned with laxatives by authorities to force a break-through. This was substantiated by a statement from Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt in a Dutch documentary, where he said: "Ik vind het een uitstekend idee (…) een laxeermiddel hebben we allemaal wel eens nodig." [I think it's a great idea (…) everybody needs a laxative now and then.]^[1] Four teachers were retained as hostages.
11 June: Marines attacked the school at 05:00 in the morning. An armoured car and explosives punched a hole in the wall, and marines entered the building. The Moluccans surrendered without a fight after hearing about the subsequent military attack on the train at "De Punt".

Aftermath

The four attackers were convicted with sentences varying from six to nine years.

The Moluccan community has never made any apologies, but two of the hostage takers, motivated by born-again Christianity, have had a meeting with former victims in 2007.^[2]

Thirty years after the events, on 23 May 2007, a monument was erected, and the first memorial ceremony was held, where symbolic white balloons were released.