Teen Disrupts Dutch News Broadcast, Demands Air Time

Motive still unclear; police say gun was fake
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 29, 2015 5:57 PM CST

A strange drama unfolded today at Dutch national broadcaster NOS, where a young man clad in a suit and wielding what appeared to be a pistol demanded air time before being arrested, reports the BBC. Police later said the pistol was fake, reports ABC News. Authorities have identified the culprit only as a 19-year-old from the town of Pijnacker near the Hague. His apparent plan was to address the nation during the evening news broadcast, but Reuters credits a "quick-thinking security guard" with leading him into an empty studio instead. Video shows him pacing and complaining that "this is taking too long" before several officers enter the studio and arrest him without a struggle.

While he was pacing, the man said, "The things that are going to be said (pause) those are very large world affairs. We were hired by the security service." He also had a letter threatening the detonation of radioactive bombs if he didn't get on the air. A NOS reporter said the man told him that he was from a "hackers' collective," without elaboration, reports AP. Though he didn't get on the air, the man did manage to disrupt the national news. Staffers fled the studio, and viewers instead saw a logo on their screens reading, "Please be patient." NOS was off the air about an hour. (More Netherlands stories.)

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