Staged robbery-hostage situation causes alarm

There was a lot of commotion on Piusstraat in Tilburg last night when what police and local residents thought was an armed robbery and hostage situation, turned out to be a recording for a movie. A local resident called the police at about 20:30 last night when he saw two robbers with what seemed like a crowbar and a firearm in the laundromat Wassjop. He also heard a lot of shouting. Police officers responded in force. They initially assumed that four or five people were being held hostage in the laundromat. The street was closed down, residents were told to go indoors and a negotiator was called out. About ten minutes later one of the people involved came outside and told the officers that they were filming a movie for a festival. The gun turned out to be made of rubber foam. The filmmakers had the owner of the laundromat's permission to stage a robbery in the store, but they neglected to inform the neighbors, police or municipality. From outside it seemed to be a robbery with hostages. The filmmakers regretted the commotion they caused.