When the woman bends forward, bystanders see that there is a big knife out of her back

« We need help! », A man shouts on Thursday afternoon a little after a quarter past three through Sint Nicolaasstraat in the center of Amsterdam. When Milen van Boldrik (47) then walks outside, she sees a boy who looks « corpse bleek ». She puts him on a chair with bystanders and sees why: he is stabbed.

Elsewhere in the street, she sees two more people, they are ready for it. There is blood on the street. And at the intersection of Sint Nicolaasstraat with the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, a busy continuous street, a young woman tells bystanders that she was pushed. When she leans forward, they see that a « big knife » sticks out of her back. In passing by a sprinting man, says an eyewitness.

The man has been hunted by the narrow alleys in the area around Dam Square, while a young man runs after him. By the Gravenstraat, where possible someone is being stabbed. De Nieuwendijk. There the pursuer manages to overpower the man and sit on top of him. « Kurwa, Kurwa« Omanders hear the plug calling – a polish swear word. The man is wearing a black jacket, gray pants and still has his white earplugs, can be seen on images that bystanders with NRC shared.

Trauma helicopter

When the police arrive shortly thereafter, it soon becomes clear that five people were stabbed in a few minutes. A large area is being deposited, the dam is temporarily even completely evacuated to land a trauma helicopter. Tourists watch, eyewitnesses talk about what they have seen; Some shocked, others full of adrenaline.

The dozens of agents and ambulance staff immediately see that two victims are « serious ». Certainly one of them is removed with an infusion. There are several elderly people among the wounded. According to eyewitnesses, there is no connection between the victims. They happened to be in the wrong place.

While the victims are being treated, the suspect is also taken into an ambulance. The man, saying eyewitnesses, got a staircase around his arrest against his leg from a bystander who had heard that he had stabbed an older woman.

Why did he put five people on a sunny Thursday afternoon? The police could not say it on Thursday at the beginning of the evening, the suspect had not yet been interrogated. Minister David van Weel (Justice, VVD) thought it was too early to say whether there would be a terror investigation, but did not exclude it either. Eyewitnesses of the stabbing in Sint Nicolaasstraat thought of something else: drugs, confusion, or a combination thereof.

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