Emergency services running a terrorism drill in Amsterdam today, tomorrow

The Dutch emergency services will run training drills on responding to a terrorist attack in Amsterdam on Tuesday and Wednesday. They’ll use practice ammunition in the training, so people in the Dutch capital may hear gunshots, the local safety office, Veiligheidsregio Amsterdam-Amstelland, warned.

The safety office stressed that there is currently no higher risk of a terrorist attack in the Netherlands. But it is the Veiligheidsregio’s duty to ensure that emergency services in the region are prepared for all types of incidents. “So we organize training and exercises related to various risks, including floods, long power outages, and terrorism,” the safety office said.

The training will involve the police, paramedics, fire brigade, Defense, and the municipality. It starts in the Westelijk Havengebied on Tuesday. The police and Defense surveillance units will work with extras posing as victims there. On Wednesday, the exercises will move to the Olympic Stadium.

The Veiligheidsregio notified the affected neighborhoods, their residents, and the local businesses about the drills in advance. A few roads around the Olympic Stadium will be inaccessible for the duration of the training.

The last time Veiligheidsregio Amsterdam-Amstelland held a large anti-terrorism drill was in 2017. The national authorities held similar drills across the Netherlands in 2018.