Dutch police secure a shopping street after a stabbing incident in the center of The Hague, Netherlands, November 29, 2019. (AP Photo/ Phil Nijhuis)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch police said on Sunday that they had found no indications of a terrorist motive, after arresting a homeless man for stabbing three teenagers in The Hague.
The 35-year-old man was detained on Saturday after the assault, which happened as shoppers hunted Black Friday bargains in the city’s main commercial street.
“The precise circumstances of the stabbing incident are still unclear. No indications have yet been found to show that there was a terrorist motive,” police said on Twitter.
“The motive for the stabbing incident is still being investigated.”
Forensic workers investigate at the Grote Marktstraat, one of the main shopping streets in the center of the Dutch city of The Hague, after several people were wounded in a stabbing incident on November 29, 2019. (Sem VAN DER WAL/ANP/AFP)
Police said the suspect had no fixed abode and was “arrested at a homeless shelter in the center of The Hague” before being taken to a police station for questioning.
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They had previously said they were investigating “several scenarios.”
The attack happened just hours after a terror suspect stabbed two people to death in London.
The victims were a 13-year-old boy and two 15-year-old girls, none of whom knew each other, police said. They were all treated in the hospital, and released overnight.
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Police arrive at the Grote Marktstraat, one of the main shopping streets in the center of the Dutch city of The Hague, after several people were wounded in a stabbing incident on November 29, 2019. (Sem VAN DER WAL/ANP/AFP)
The Netherlands has seen a series of terror attacks and plots, although not so far on the scale of those in other European countries.
In March, four people were killed when a Turkish-born man opened fire on a tram in the city of Utrecht.
In August 2018, an Afghan man stabbed and seriously wounded two American tourists at Amsterdam’s central station, saying he wanted to “protect the Prophet Mohammed.”
He was jailed for 26 years in October this year.
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