Amsterdam: Police evacuate movie theater (UPDATED: Denmark, France)

Amsterdam: Police evacuate movie theater

The police evacuated a movie theater in the Pathé de Munt complex in Amsterdam on Sunday evening.

According to a spokesperson, there were about 60 people, including several dozen youth who caused trouble. The police arrested three people for taunts, disturbing the public order and vandalism.

The youth were guilty of behavior that 'you don't want to have if you want to watch a film undisturbed,' according to a police spokesperson. Police agent evacuated the entire theater at about 8:30pm. The viewers left the building through the side entrance and were thereby directed towards the Rembrandt Square. The movie theater was open for visitors for the rest of the evening.

It's unclear if the youth were in the movie theater in order to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Traditionally many Muslim youth go to the movies then. This led to problems in Amsterdam movie theaters in the past.

According to a Pathé spokesperson they had brought in extra security. "That happens every year during Eid ul-Fitr".

Source: Telegraaf (Dutch)


UPDATE:


Youth celebrating Ramadan also caused problems in the Rotterdam Pathé movie theater. The group threw popcorn, made noise and made it impossible for others to watch the movie. The theater did not start any new movies after 8:30pm.

Once the police evicted the youth to the square outside, they continued causing trouble, cursing the police and throwing things at the agents. One Rotterdam resident was arrested.

The full quote from the Pathé spokesperson: "That happens every year during Eid ul-Fitr. The Muslim youth go out en-masse then, it seems logical to me that some incidents will occur."


In Copenhagen, 100 youth celebrating Eid ul-Fitr were kicked out of the Palads movie theater. Their tickets were refunded. Earlier in the evening a group of youth caused havoc on the street - they were escorted away by the police. A 20 year old was arrested after spitting in a police agent's face.

In Marseille three movie theaters were closed down Sunday. One had a sign saying that due to the damage and violence on the occasion of Eid, the theater will stay closed all day.

Sources: Telegraaf (Dutch), Jyllands-Posten (Danish), La Provence (French)

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