All quiet as Netherlands falls silent to honour Paris victims

Silence fell across the Netherlands and other European cities as noon struck on Monday, in honour of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday.

"Paris is in all of our hearts during these days of mourning", Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher said at the commemoration at the French embassy in The Hague, NOS reports. "We feel connected with the Parisians and the entire French nation. The Netherlands weeps with you. The Netherlands mourns with you. And we feel connected in determination. Believing that extremist violence and blind terror must never and will never win out over freedom and democracy." Ministers Ronald Plastark of Home Affairs, Lilianne Plouman of Foreign Trade, Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice and State Secretaries Sharon Dijksma of Infrastructure, Jetta Klijnsma of Social Affairs and Klaas Dijhoff of Security and Justice also attended the commemoration at the French embassy. Other commemorations were held at the same time in, among others, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Haaksbergen.

Public transport across the Netherlands came to a standstill for the minute of silence. This includes trains from NS and ProRail and buses from Conexxion, Veolia, Breng, Hermes and OVregioIJSSelmond. On Amsterdam Central Station workers and travelers alike stopped what they were doing as noon struck and quietly honoured the victims of the attacks. According to Rijkswaterstaat, many motorists sought parking places along the Dutch highways as noon approached. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, on his way to South Africa for a trade mission, and Minister Bert Koenders of Foreign Affairs, currently in Brussels, were unable to attend any of the commemorations, but held a minute of silence where they found themselves, NOS reports. Queen Maxima also had a moment of silence in her hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh, according to ANP. Regional broadcasters and NPO also fell silent for a minute after 12:00. https://twitter.com/MinPres/status/666208440205910020