Men in camouflage suits surrounded a van on the Hermelijnkoog in Alkmaar yesterday afternoon and held someone at gunpoint. “Hands on your head!”, came the voice and there was a lot of shouting. No matter how exciting it sounded, there was nothing wrong: it turned out to be a defense exercise.
“I was just having coffee when my wife said something was going on outside,” local resident Ruud de Greef tells media partner Regional city Central. He decided to take stock. “So I go to look and see that a gray bus has been hit by green pickup trucks and someone is being taken out and put on the ground at gunpoint.”
Fortunately it turned out not to be very serious. Defense conducted an exercise and repeated the scene several times. The soldiers who took part in the exercise are part of the National Reserve Corps (Natres). Volunteer reservists whose task is to guard and secure Dutch territory.
Exercise again and again
One of the tasks for which they are deployed is to provide military assistance to civilian authorities to maintain public order and safety. This includes arresting suspects who pose too high a risk for police officers.
After the ‘suspect’ was controlled and arrested, the exercise was evaluated. Then everything started again, but eventually peace returned to the Hermelijnkoog.