Van Riessen: “The queen was threatened and I had to choose: will the commemoration of death continue?”

It was one of the most difficult decisions of his career, says Van Riessen. “At 3 p.m. I received a notification from the AIVD, then BVD. I immediately tried to get all the information, but all that was known was that there was a threat of an attack on the queen from South Africa. Moluccan corner. That’s all.”

‘Insane pressure’

Van Riessen decides that the commemoration should continue, because canceling the commemoration on the basis of such a vague message? “That can give people ideas. One threatening phone call and we will never have a commemoration of death again, so to speak.” Queen Beatrix and Willem-Alexander were informed and went to Dam Square. Van Riessen: “After 23 years it still makes me emotional. The pressure we felt then was insane. It must have been a drama for the Queen and for the Crown Prince.”

First serious threat

“It was the first time that there was such a serious threat to the royal family,” says the former chief of police. He therefore did not send the Oranjes onto Dam Square without extra security. Additional measures were taken within a few hours. Van Riessen does not want to say too much about this, but additional measures could be: detection gates, closing shops, body searches and snipers on the roofs around the monument.

Snipers on the roofs

Former AT5 editor Erik Rezelman remembers the latter well. “They made no effort to hide. All around you suddenly see men with big guns, pointing downwards from the Bijenkorf and Madame Tussauds.” Since Rezelman for AT5 worked, the first thing he thought of was: “Call! Call the editors right away. I’d never seen this before.”

Joop van Riessen’s book ‘Attack on the Dam’ can be read since this weekend. He emphasizes: “It’s fiction. And the main character is looking for the perpetrator…”