This month, a 23-year-old Swedish man was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Luxembourg for planning a terrorist attack at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. Dutch authorities and festival organisers were completely unaware of the planned attack.
As reported by Het Parool, Alexander H. was arrested at his home in Luxembourg in early 2020. There, police found a document, titled “Fun time for Eurovision 2020 – For a better and less over-accepting future.”
The document detailed the then 17-year-old’s plans for the attack.
According to the Luxembourgish news outlet RTL Today, the document was written by H., who co-wrote it with a then 18-year-old Dutch accomplice, whose identity remains undisclosed.
However, what is known is that the pair’s plans were very disturbing.
Cyanide, explosives, and chaos
The NOS reports that the document revealed plans to poison attendees of the contest with either cyanide or ricin.
The document also mentioned the use of chlorine, gas in the ventilation systems and explosives. And these weren’t just words on paper; preparations for the production of chlorine and explosives were found in H.’s house.
Luxembourgish media reports that H. had been a member of the neo-Nazi paramilitary organisation The Base since 2019. The Base aims to establish a white ethnostate.
Dutch authorities had no idea
This is all news to Dutch authorities, with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service telling Het Parool that they knew nothing about the case.
This was the same for the producers of the show, with The NPO and broadcaster AVROTROS releasing a joint statement to ANP:
“We only became aware of this case after recent media reports. We were unaware of this threat at the time. We are awaiting further legal action.”
The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest was ultimately cancelled. However, it took place in Rotterdam the following year.
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