Suspicious package found at Lelystad provincial house; area on lock-down

A suspicious package was found at the provincial house on Visarenddreef in Lelystad on Monday morning. The police closed down the area around the building, including part of the nearby train station. Multiple banners with slogans about nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen were also found hanging on the provincial house, a spokesperson for the Midden Nederland police said to NU.nl.

The police are allowing pedestrians into the train station, but motorists are being stopped, according to Omroep Flevoland.

Track 1 and 2 have been closed down by police order, the police said on Twitter. Track 3 and 4 are still open. Trains are still running, but are stopping at the front of the platform. The back half of the platform is closed to the public. At the time of writing, 7:40 a.m., NS reported no delays due to the closure.

All bus traffic in Lelystad was halted at the request of the police, Arriva said on Twitter.

It is not yet clear whether there is a connection between the banners and the suspicious package. The police are investigating.

Over the past few wees there were several protests against a plan to shoot thousands of red deer in the nature reserve. This culling will start at the end of this month, when the heat period is over. According to the province, the number of large grazers in the Oostvaardersplassen must be reduced considerably, because the animals are completely taking over the area, which is supposed to be a bird sanctuary.

During the winter there were also protests around the nature reserve, because the large grazers inside did not have enough to eat.