Teacher stabbed at Amsterdam school

23 January 2004

AMSTERDAM — A male teacher was stabbed by a 35-year-old man in an Amsterdam school on Friday. On 13 January, deputy head master Hans van Wieren was shot dead by a pupil in a school in The Hague.

The victim was taken from the Mgr. Hermusschool on Jan Tooropstraat in Amsterdam West in a serious condition and rushed to hospital. Police and staff have confirmed the victim was a teacher.

The school is for students with hearing and speaking difficulties, but it has been reported that students did not witness the stabbing.

Police allege that an argument between the two men escalated into the stabbing. The suspect — possibly a former student of the school — has been arrested, news agency ANP reported.

Violence in schools was catapulted onto the agenda in the Netherlands when Van Wieren was killed two weeks ago. The suspect in that case, 17-year-old Murat D., is in custody.

About 30 of his friends rallied outside the Terra College school in The Hague two days later to show their support for Murat.

And the day after the killing, a 15-year-old pupil took an air pistol into the AOC agricultural training college in Roermond. It appears she was showing off to friends when caught by staff.

A 16-year-old girl was arrested in the same week for allegedly posting death threats to a teacher on a website and three boys at a school in Amsterdam West were questioned after a letter, containing a death threat and a bullet, was sent to their school.

Subject: Dutch news + school violence