Around 20 Amsterdam schools threatened this week; Utrecht school also closed

The number of schools in Amsterdam that received a threat on Wednesday and Thursday is now “towards twenty,” the police told NU.nl. This morning, primary school De Notenkraker in Amsterdam Zuid didn’t open due to a threat. And pre-vocational secondary schools in Utrecht and Montfoort also closed after someone threatened a school shooting.

The Amsterdam authorities reported that they have no indications that the threat to De Notenkraker is concrete. The police, prosecutor, and mayor think this is copycat behavior. “Perpetrators copy each other in this case and play a misguided joke that has far-reaching consequences for students, their parents, teachers, and school boards.”

Although they assume the threat is not real, the authorities remain alert. “It can never be ruled out with certainty that something more serious is going on.”

On Wednesday, the Spinoza20first in Oost remained closed due to a shooting threat. The police arrested a 14-year-old boy for that threat. The pre-vocational secondary school Yuverta, the Ir. Lely Lyceum and the St Nicolaaslyceum also received threats.

Yuverta branches in Utrecht and Montfoort also remained closed on Thursday due to a school shooting threat being shared on Snapchat. “Although we consider the chance of a violent incident to be small, we are closing our school as a precaution. The police are investigating further,” Frank van Hout, the regional director of the school, said in a letter to parents, RTV Utrecht reports.

About 400 students attend the Yuverta VMBO Utrecht on Theo Thijssenplein and just over 800 at the Yuverta Montfoort. Those students are all at home today.

The threats come in the middle of exam time for secondary school students. Three exams are scheduled today for pre-vocational secondary education - economics, physics and chemistry II, and social sciences.