Amsterdam bus robbed by knife-wielding clowns; Buses may go cashless in response

An Amsterdam bus driver was robbed by two knife-wielding perpetrators wearing plastic clown masks on Wednesday night. Amsterdam politicians responded to the news quickly, and are demanding that cashless payment be implemented on buses. According to the police, the incident happened on Volendammerweg on Wednesday night. The bus driver was walking from the GVB bus shelter to his bus when two young men attacked him. Both were wearing clown masks. They threatened him with a large knife and took off with his bag. A third suspect was standing lookout a short distance away. The bus driver was not injured. The police launched an extensive search for the suspects, but to no avail. D66 faction leader Jan Paternotte wants cash to be removed from buses as soon as possible. "Our bus drivers are driving in all corners of the city late at night. We must do everything we can to protect them", he said to local broadcaster AT5. VVD councilor Dilan Yesilgoz agrees. "We have to quickly implement cashless payment in combination with other measures." PvdA councilor Sofyan Mbarki expressed similar sentiments on Twitter. The police are looking for the perpetrators. The first suspect is a young man that is about 1.7 meters tall. He may have a Suriname or Antillean accent. He was wearing a black track jacket, black sweatpants, white shoes, a red wool hat and a white plastic clown mask. The second suspect is also a young man, somewhat shorter than the first suspect at about 1.6 meters and has a normal build. He was also wearing a white clown mask. No description is available for the third suspect. The police are calling on anyone who may have witnessed or filmed the incident to contact them immediately.