Dutch officials on Tuesday moved to increase security around media organizations after a van deliberately rammed into the offices of a top daily in the second attack on a newspaper in less than a week.
Police were investigating after the white Volkswagen Caddy van crashed into the headquarters of the country’s best-selling newspaper, De Telegraaf, before dawn on Tuesday.
There were no injuries.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“This morning at about 4am a delivery van was driven into the facade of a publishing house in Basisweg” in Amsterdam, police said in a statement.
The building houses the head office of De Telegraaf, which focuses on sports, crime and celebrity gossip.
The newspaper released security camera footage that clearly showed the van twice being driven straight into the building’s facade. The driver then got out, poured something into the back and set it alight, with the vehicle exploding in a ball of flame.
The driver then fled the scene, in what is believed to be a dark-colored Audi sedan.
Police have launched a search and have appealed to the public for information.
Fire services were quickly on the scene, and dawn revealed the building’s huge glass-fronted facade had been completely charred and reduced to twisted metal.
“We will not let ourselves be intimidated,” De Telegraaf editor-in-chief Paul Jansen said, adding that it was too early to speculate who was behind the incident.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the attack was a “slap in the face to the free press and to Dutch democracy,” adding on Twitter that his government was “alert and vigilant.”
The incident came after a man on Thursday last week fired an anti-tank weapon into another building in the same Sloterdijk area of Amsterdam that houses media organizations, including weekly newspaper Panorama.
A 41-year-old man has been arrested over that attack, which also caused no injuries.
Police identified the man as a leader of a local motorbike gang.
City authorities said that they were now going to boost security, including adding more surveillance cameras around buildings housing media organizations.
“Although there is nothing to indicate that another incident will happen, nothing can be ruled out,” the municipality said in a statement, adding that police believed the attacks could be related to “organized crime.”
De Telegraaf said the van had not been able to penetrate its offices, as the front windows were made of special safety glass.
However, news agency Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau reported that a concrete block had recently been removed from the front to allow a construction work, which might have allowed the van to hurtle into the building.
Reporters Without Borders condemned Tuesday’s attack on De Telegraaf and “urged the Dutch authorities to launch a full investigation to identify and punish the perpetrators.”
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