Activist Arrests Not Premeditated

The arrest of a man and a woman during the inauguration in Amsterdam was absolutely not premeditated. This is the conclusion of mayor Eberhard van der Laan of Amsterdam, after the investigation. The fact list shows, according to van der Laan, that the man who was arrested, (activist republican Hans Maessen), was per accident identified as a man who was known to be violent. The picture was shown at the picture overview. The policemen thought that they recognized the man from the picture, but this proved to be wrong. According to van der Laan, was it impossible at that time at that spot, partly because of the overloaded GSM network and the noise at the site, to verify if the police had arrested the wrong man. Earlier at the same day the police also reported a mistaken identity. Besides Maessen, activist student Joanna van der Hoek was also arrested on April 30. She was standing next to Maessen and was also present in the picture overview of the police. Van der Laan says that Joanna only needed to be observed. Before arresting her, the policemen should have contacted the control center, but they didn’t.