A car has caught fire after an explosion in the middle of Amsterdam’s historic central square – just metres away from where a British tourist tackled a suspected knifeman last week.
The vehicle burst into flames in Dam Square on Thursday. Dutch police suspect the driver, a 50-year-old Dutch citizen, was responsible for causing the blaze.
“Detectives are keeping all scenarios open, but have strong suspicions that the man wanted to take his own life. He is suspected of arson,” Amsterdam Police said.
Nobody was hurt in the incident except the driver, who was arrested, according to police.
Footage on social media showed the fire was caused by an explosion, which happened after the small red car drove up to a crowd of people sitting and stood next to the busy square’s National Monument cenotaph.
A man with burning clothes then emerged from the car as flames billowed from its windows. Police could be seen extinguishing the flames on the man before taking him into custody.
The square was cordoned off while explosives experts investigated the vehicle.
“The ground shook under my legs, that’s how hard the first explosion was,” Jim de Jong, who owns ‘t Nieuwe Kafé, told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper.
Other witnesses reported hearing a “huge bang” and some resulting screams, in comments to Het Parool. One bystander was quoted as saying: “There was panic but it wasn’t like everyone started running.”
Just last week, a man injured five people in a stabbing rampage at various locations near Dam Square. Police have identified the suspect in that incident as a 30-year-old Ukrainian national from the eastern Donetsk region, who prosecutors said had terrorist intent.
Police said a 67-year-old woman and a 69-year-old man – both American nationals – were among the victims. A 73-year-old woman from Belgium, a 26-year-old man from Poland and a 19-year-old woman from Amsterdam were also injured.
One shop worker told The Independent they saw people injured on the ground during scenes of “panic” and confusion as people fled the scene of the stabbing last week.
“People definitely started to panic, and some people ran away in different directions because no one really knew what was happening. It was a panicky situation,” said the staff member at nearby Flagship Bike Tours, who gave his name as Louis H.
An English tourist who chased the suspected knifeman through busy alleys and pinned him to the ground was awarded a “hero’s medal” by Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema.
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