| 1977 Dutch train hostage crisis | |
|---|---|
| Location | Glimmen, Netherlands |
| Date | May 23 - June 11, 1977 |
| Target | Train |
| Attack type | hostage-taking |
| Weapon(s) | Guns / Handguns |
| Deaths | 8 (including 6 perpetrators) |
| Injured | 6 |
| Perpetrator(s) | Moluccan youth (9 perpetrators) |
On May 23, 1977 a train hijacking took place close to Drentsche Aa river bridge at de Punt (in the village of Glimmen) on the provincial border between Groningen and Drenthe, northeastern Netherlands. Nine armed Moluccans pulled the emergency brake around 9 AM and took about 50 people as hostages. The hijacking lasted for 482 hours (20 days); two hostages and six hijackers were killed. At the same time four other South-Moluccans took hostages at an elementary school in the village of Bovensmilde, also in Drenthe.
This was the second train hijacking in the Netherlands and, like the train hijacking in 1975 in Wijster, was perpetrated by Moluccans.
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The South-Moluccans came to Holland for a temporary stay, promised by the Dutch government that they would get their own independent state, 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 started radical actions to get attention to their case. See Republik Maluku Selatan for more information about the RMS case.
At the same time 4 other South-Moluccans started taking hostages at a primary school in the village of Bovensmilde; they took 105 children and 5 teachers hostage. With these combined actions the hijackers wanted to force the (recently resigned) Dutch government to keep their promises about their RMS, break diplomatic ties with the Indonesian government and release 21 Moluccan prisoners involved in the hostage actions in 1975. An ultimatum was set for May 25 at 14:00 (2pm) with the hijackers threatening to blow up the train and the school. The hostages were forced to help blinding all the windows so for a long period nobody knew about what happened inside the train; it was only near the end of the hostage that electronic eavesdropping devices were installed by marines. About 2000 marines and soldiers were stationed both at the train and the school.
For the date of May 25, the elections for the Dutch parliament were planned. The leaders of the different parties agreed to cancel their election campaigns but the elections itself would take place on the planned date.
After the ultimatum expired, the hijackers announced new demands; They wanted an airplane from the airport of Schiphol and fly out with the 21 to be freed prisoners, the 5 teachers, and all hijackers. By means of electronic eavesdropping, minister of Justice van Agt (under resignation) knew that the hostages were not in danger, so the government let this second ultimatum pass as well.
Engineer J.A. Manusama, then president of the RMS, and Rev. Metiarij acted as negotiators during the crisis.
Because of some disease in the school (probably caused by the food distributed in the school), the hijackers decided to release the children, but keep the teachers. According to medical doctor Frans Tutuhatunewa (later successor of RMS president), there was no health issue with the hostages in the train. Nevertheless the health conditions of these hostages were used as an argument for the later attack on the train.
On June 11, 1977, a Saturday morning and almost three weeks after the start of the hijacking, six F-104 Starfighter jetplanes flew low over the train at 5:00 AM with the purpose of disorienting the hijackers and also make the hostages duck down to the floor of the train where they would be relatively safe. Then marines of the special anti-terrorist unit Bijzondere Bijstands Eenheid (BBE) started shooting at the train; an estimated 15000 bullets were shot at the train. The marines aimed at the first class and in-between compartments with the doors because they knew that these were the areas where the hijackers were hiding. One of the hostages killed was in such a compartment because she was allowed there by the hijackers before. Six hijackers were killed.
Three hijackers survived and were later convicted to sentences from six to nine years. In 2007 there was a memorial service for the killed hijackers[1]; the Moluccan community never offered any apologies, but two of the hijackers, motivated by a conversion to Christianity, had a meeting with former victims in 2007[2].