Queen Beatrix cancels march-past after accident

Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands’ was forced to cancel a ceremonial march in honor of her mother, the former Queen Juliana, after someone intentionally drove a vehicle into a crowd at the parade.

Unconfirmed reports said a driver deliberately drove his car through barriers in an attempt to ram an open bus carrying Queen Beatrix and other members of the royal family, but missed and crashed into a group injuring at least 14 people.

The scheduled parade was to celebrate what would have been Queen Juliana 100th birthday.

Queen Juliana passed away in 2004.

Update: 5:42p.m

Authorities said five bystanders were killed and 12 were injured when creamed into the crowd earlier today.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said, “I think that it has become clear that this happened with premeditation.”

Prosecutor Ludo Goossens said the unidentified 38-year-old driver, who has no history of mental illness or police record, “is formally suspected of an attack on members of the royal house and manslaughter or murder.”

UPDATE: 5/01/09 The suspect, Karst Tates has died from his injuries

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