Authorities didn't tell Rotterdam mayor about 2020 Eurovision attack plans
The authorities never informed former Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb about plans for a terrorist attack on the Eurovision Song Contest that was to be held in his city in 2020. Despite initially claiming ignorance, the Dutch authorities did know that a Swedish man had been arrested for planning a poison gas attack on the event and that he was allegedly working with a Dutch accomplice. But Aboutaleb, then responsible for the safety of the event, only learned about it in the media last week, he told Rijnmond.
In February 2020, the then 18-year-old Swede Alexander H. was arrested in Luxembourg for planning to release poison gas at the event, Parool revealed last week. On his laptop, investigators found a document titled “Fun time for Eurovision 2020 - For a better and less over-accepting future,” containing detailed plans to poison visitors with cyanide or ricin, create a panic with chlorine, spread gas through the ventilation systems, and make his own explosives. The document was allegedly drafted by H. and a Dutch accomplice.
H. was in custody when the 2020 Eurovision was scheduled to be held in Rotterdam. The event ended up getting canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. When it did happen in 2021, H. was out on parole.
Former mayor Ahmed Aboutalebe was surprised to read about this in Parool. The topic was never broached in the weekly meeting between the Rotterdam mayor, police chief, and chief prosecutor, also not when the Eurovision Song Contest was rescheduled in 2021.
“A possible attack with poison gas was never discussed,” Aboutaleb told Rijnmond. “I ultimately had to decide whether it was safe to go ahead. Was this boy being followed at the time? Was he under surveillance? Was he perhaps even in the Netherlands? I would have liked to know.”
Alexander H. is currently on trial in Luxembourg. The prosecution there recently recommended a 12-year prison sentence for the now 23-year-old man.
Aboutaleb hopes that there will be an investigation into the communication between the judicial authorities in Luxembourg and the Dutch authorities. “I’m no longer in a position to have it investigated. But as far as I’m concerned, this will be investigated,” he told the Rotterdam broadcaster.
