Dutchman’s throat cut at Belgian rock festival

5 July 2004

AMSTERDAM − Belgian police have arrested another two suspects after a 30-year-old Dutchman had his throat cut at a music festival in the Belgian city Leuven on Sunday.

The man − identified as Harm van den Broek, of Mariahout in the Dutch province Brabant − was rushed to a Leuven hospital just in time and is expected to recover, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported on Monday. 

Local police initially arrested nine suspects, including several Belgian soldiers, but a spokesman said police were not immediately certain if the culprit was among those arrested.

Belgian police later revealed that it had arrested two other suspects, identified only as a 38-year-old man from the Belgian city Genk and a 34-year-old man from the Belgian municipality Houthalen. They had allegedly fled the scene after the assault.

The men were arrested based on testimony from the other nine detainees and were scheduled to appear before a judge later on Monday. The other nine suspects have been released.

The Dutchman complained at about 2am on Sunday about the noise nearby campers were making at the Rock Werchter festival.

The victim was then dragged into a nearby delivery van, where his throat was cut, inflicting a serious injury to his carotid artery.

The man’s friends then took him to a Red Cross first-aid post, where an ambulance was called. “Luckily his friends quickly freed him, otherwise he could have bled to death at the scene,” Vits said.

Residents in his home town Mariahout expressed shock at the incident. The victim was described as a construction worker with a local building firm and is well known by village residents.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch + Belgian news