A happy day gone wrong.
My country is in shock over something that in the grand scheme of things isn't that big a deal, but it is to most of us, including me. This post is getting longer and longer though every time I edit it, so I'll put this behind a cut now.
It's queens day here today, which is a big deal in The Netherlands, with the queen and her family joining the festivities, everyone dressed in orange one way or another, flea-markets, games, fancy-fairs everywhere, and today we have a lovely sunny and mild day.
I was watching the festivities on tv. The royal family had already walked around for a while, joining in with the games and competitions as they always do, because frankly our royal family is made of awesome, and they were on a big open bus driving to the palace where they'd continue the festivities. Just after the bus had crossed a roundabout to turn into the palace park, a small black car came speeding through the crowd, across the roundabout, crashing into a fence around a monument. There was running and screaming and the main reporter trying to get someone on mike to understand where the car had come from, but no one seemed to know. The royal family was seen in utter shock, some of them standing, hands clasped over their faces. The bus drove on of course and they were taken inside the palace as soon as possible.
Ambulances arrived, police came from everywhere, wounded people lying scattered, some of whom were clearly being resuscitated and after half an hour or so it was announced that today's festivities were canceled for the rest of the day.
In the (slow-mo) rerun you can clearly see the car was already significantly damaged once it entered the roundabout. It is said that there was a man in the car and he's brought to hospital, but in the reruns I can't see anyone behind the wheel. The car was even before impact already so damaged it's hard to believe anyone would even fit in there, let alone survive. It's not clear what the man was up to, if it was an accident (highly unlikely) or what it was meant to be at all. The last count is 14 people were injured, most of whom seriously.
I'm still shaking, it's so shocking to see this happen live. This was supposed to be a happy day, and I can't help but wonder how this will affect future queens days, because they've always been so delightful.
Intellectually I say they royal family is a waste of money and monarchy is a stupid system that has no right to exist in these modern times. Secretly I'm nuts about them though.
My heart goes out to everyone hurt one way or another by this... whatever it was...
[edit] And of course it's already on YouTube:
You can clearly see how a policeman on a bike can only barely escape being squashed between the car and the fence and the shocked reactions from those on the bus.
[edit 2] There's just been a press-conference; the count now is 17 casualties, 4 of which have died, and 5 are in critical conditions. From the contact the police had with the man in the car it looks like he did it on purpose and it's a solo action by someone who wasn't known by the police or had a history of mental instability one way or another. It's the kind of thing that can't be anticipated or prevented.
All festivities in the city where this took place have been canceled, not just officially, but also because people just aren't in a festive mood anymore. It took a couple of hours for the news to spread and sink in nationally (most of the festivities take place outside and a short message on your mobile doesn't have the same impact as seeing it on tv), but now it has more festivities are being canceled and the official policy now is to set the flag at half-mast to indicate the news has been heard and activities are canceled.
[edit 3] The queen speaks.
My attempt at translation: 'What started out as a beautiful day, has ended in a terrible tragedy, which has shocked us all deeply. People who were near it, who have seen it happen on tv, everyone who has witnessed it, will have watched astounded and unbelieving. We are speechless that something terrible like this could happen. My family, but I think everyone in this country, empathize with all our hearts with the casualties, their family and friends and everyone who has been touched deeply by this accident.'
It's queens day here today, which is a big deal in The Netherlands, with the queen and her family joining the festivities, everyone dressed in orange one way or another, flea-markets, games, fancy-fairs everywhere, and today we have a lovely sunny and mild day.
I was watching the festivities on tv. The royal family had already walked around for a while, joining in with the games and competitions as they always do, because frankly our royal family is made of awesome, and they were on a big open bus driving to the palace where they'd continue the festivities. Just after the bus had crossed a roundabout to turn into the palace park, a small black car came speeding through the crowd, across the roundabout, crashing into a fence around a monument. There was running and screaming and the main reporter trying to get someone on mike to understand where the car had come from, but no one seemed to know. The royal family was seen in utter shock, some of them standing, hands clasped over their faces. The bus drove on of course and they were taken inside the palace as soon as possible.
Ambulances arrived, police came from everywhere, wounded people lying scattered, some of whom were clearly being resuscitated and after half an hour or so it was announced that today's festivities were canceled for the rest of the day.
In the (slow-mo) rerun you can clearly see the car was already significantly damaged once it entered the roundabout. It is said that there was a man in the car and he's brought to hospital, but in the reruns I can't see anyone behind the wheel. The car was even before impact already so damaged it's hard to believe anyone would even fit in there, let alone survive. It's not clear what the man was up to, if it was an accident (highly unlikely) or what it was meant to be at all. The last count is 14 people were injured, most of whom seriously.
I'm still shaking, it's so shocking to see this happen live. This was supposed to be a happy day, and I can't help but wonder how this will affect future queens days, because they've always been so delightful.
Intellectually I say they royal family is a waste of money and monarchy is a stupid system that has no right to exist in these modern times. Secretly I'm nuts about them though.
My heart goes out to everyone hurt one way or another by this... whatever it was...
[edit] And of course it's already on YouTube:
Click to viewYou can clearly see how a policeman on a bike can only barely escape being squashed between the car and the fence and the shocked reactions from those on the bus.
[edit 2] There's just been a press-conference; the count now is 17 casualties, 4 of which have died, and 5 are in critical conditions. From the contact the police had with the man in the car it looks like he did it on purpose and it's a solo action by someone who wasn't known by the police or had a history of mental instability one way or another. It's the kind of thing that can't be anticipated or prevented.
All festivities in the city where this took place have been canceled, not just officially, but also because people just aren't in a festive mood anymore. It took a couple of hours for the news to spread and sink in nationally (most of the festivities take place outside and a short message on your mobile doesn't have the same impact as seeing it on tv), but now it has more festivities are being canceled and the official policy now is to set the flag at half-mast to indicate the news has been heard and activities are canceled.
[edit 3] The queen speaks.
My attempt at translation: 'What started out as a beautiful day, has ended in a terrible tragedy, which has shocked us all deeply. People who were near it, who have seen it happen on tv, everyone who has witnessed it, will have watched astounded and unbelieving. We are speechless that something terrible like this could happen. My family, but I think everyone in this country, empathize with all our hearts with the casualties, their family and friends and everyone who has been touched deeply by this accident.'