Police say multiple people are being held hostage in a Dutch town. They have evacuated nearby homes

By ALEKSANDAR FURTULA
Associated Press

EDE, Netherlands (AP) — Heavily armed police cordoned off part of a Dutch town on Saturday, saying that multiple people were being held hostage in a building there.

Police spokesman Simen Klok told The Associated Press people were being held hostage in the town of Ede but he declined to give more details of the incident or say how many people were involved.

Police said in a message on X, formerly Twitter, that “at the moment there is no indication of a terrorist motive.”

The hostages were being held in Cafe Petticoat, a popular bar and nightclub in Ede, according to an AP videographer at the scene.

Earlier, officers evacuated 150 homes near a central square, saying that there was a person in the area “who could be a danger to themself or others.”

Images from the scene in Ede, a rural market town 85 kilometers (53 miles) southeast of Amsterdam, showed police and firefighters on the streets in a cordoned-off area.

The municipality said that all shops in the center of Ede would remain closed.