On the morning of Monday March 13, 1978, at 10:15, three
South-Moluccans seized the Province Hall in
Assen
Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. Some of the people inside escaped by jumping out of the window, including the
Queen's Commissioner of the
Drenthe province. 16 women and 55 men were taken hostage. Two people were killed.
Hostage-taking
The attackers demanded the release of 21 prisoners who were involved in earlier hijackings, and free transport to
Schiphol airport
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...
and out of the country. An ultimatum was set for March 14 at 2pm when the attackers would shoot two of the politicians, and then one further hostage every 30 minutes
After a few hours, hostage Ko de Groot was executed in front of a window and thrown out.
A photographer was wounded and an ambulance trying to get to the body of Ko de Groot was shot at.
During the night, the marines of the ''
Bijzondere Bijstands Eenheid'' (BBE) forced their way into the basement. The next day, March 14 at 2:34pm, they raided the building from outside and from the basement, shortly after the attackers' deadline. One hostage was fatally wounded during the raid.
See also
* Other South Moluccan terrorist actions:
**
Attempt at kidnapping Juliana of the Netherlands
**
1975 Indonesian consulate hostage crisis
**
1975 Dutch train hostage crisis
**
1977 Dutch train hostage crisis
**
1977 Dutch school hostage crisis
*
List of hostage crises
This is a list of notable hostage crises by date.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Hostage Crises
+
Hostage crises
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liber ...
*
Terrorism in the European Union
history of terrorism in Europe. This has often been linked to nationalist and separatist movements (separating countries), while other acts have been related to politics (including anarchism, far-right and far-left extremism), religious extremis ...
*
List of terrorist incidents in the Netherlands
References
External links
Images from an armoured car unit which was involvedSouth Moluccan Suicide Commando in MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base*
ttp://home.hetnet.nl/~robmail/family/people/1978%232.htm News from local newspaper dagblad van het Noorden March 13, 1978News from local newspaper dagblad van het Noorden March 13, 1978
1978 Dutch province hall hostage crisis
Hostage taking in the Netherlands
Moluccan Dutch
1978 Dutch province hall hostage crisis
1978 murders in the Netherlands
Terrorist incidents in the Netherlands in the 1970s
Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1978
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