Developments
At the same time 4 other South-Moluccans started taking hostages at a primary school in the village of Bovensmilde; they took 105 children and 5 teachers hostage. With these combined actions the hijackers wanted to force the (recently resigned) Dutch government to keep their promises about their RMS, break diplomatic ties with the Indonesian government and release 21 Moluccan prisoners involved in the hostage actions in 1975. An ultimatum was set for May 25 at 14:00 (2pm) with the hijackers threatening to blow up the train and the school. The hostages were forced to help blinding all the windows so for a long period nobody knew about what happened inside the train; it was only near the end of the hostage that electronic eavesdropping devices were installed by marines. About 2000 marines and soldiers were stationed both at the train and the school.
For the date of May 25, the elections for the Dutch parliament were planned. The leaders of the different parties agreed to cancel their election campaigns but the elections itself would take place on the planned date.
After the ultimatum expired, the hijackers announced new demands; They wanted an airplane from the airport of Schiphol and fly out with the 21 to be freed prisoners, the 5 teachers, and all hijackers. By means of electronic eavesdropping, minister of Justice van Agt (under resignation) knew that the hostages were not in danger, so the government let this second ultimatum pass as well.
- May 23 9:00AM: Start of the hijack
- May 24 : The national broadcast NOS reads the letter with demands
- May 25 : Elections for national parliament, ultimatum expires without anything happening
- May 26 : A handcuffed hostage is taken outside the train and then taken aboard again
- May 28 : Hostages clean up the train, 60 activists offer themselves as alternative hostages
- May 29 : Negotiations about releasing a pregnant woman are cut off
- May 30 : Second week of crisis
- May 31 : For the first time the hijackers ask for a negotiator
- June 1 : The hijackers ask for an ambulance but later retract the request
- June 4 : 2 negotiators talk for hours with the hijackers
- June 5 : 2 pregnant women, including Annie Brouwer (later mayor of Utrecht), are allowed to leave the train
- June 8 : An ill passenger is released
- June 9 : 2 negotiators talk again to the hijackers for hours
- June 11 5:00AM: In the morning the crisis is ended after 482 hours
Read more about this topic: 1977 Dutch Train Hostage Crisis
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