A CONCERT IN the Dutch port city of Rotterdam by American rock group Allah-Las was cancelled tonight because of a “terror threat”, police said in a statement.
“Police took this information seriously enough that after discussion with organisers it was decided to cancel the event,” the Rotterdam police statement said.
Police said they detained the driver of a van with Spanish license plates and a number of gas tanks inside.
Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said at a hastily arranged press conference that the van’s Spanish driver was being questioned by police. Military explosives experts were deployed to Rotterdam to examine the van, police said.
Concert organiser Rotown said earlier on Twitter that the concert venue, a former grain silo called Maassilo, was being evacuated because of the unspecified threat and concert attendees would get their money back.
The show hadn’t yet started when the decision to cancel it was made.
Dutch television showed officers in body armor outside Maassilo and what appeared to be members of the band leaving the venue in a white van with a police escort. The band did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Allah-Las is a four-piece band from Los Angeles.
In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian last year, band members said they chose the word All, Arabic for God, because they were seeking a “holy sounding” name and did not realise it might cause offense.
“We get emails from Muslims, here in the US and around the world, saying they’re offended, but that absolutely wasn’t our intention,” lead singer Miles Michaud told the newspaper.
We email back and explain why we chose the name, and mainly they understand.
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