Investigators say the Dutch royal family were the target of the car which ploughed into crowds during the Queens' Day holiday parade in Apeldoorn.

APELDOORN, NETHERLANDS (APRIL 30, 2009) NOS -

A car which ploughed into a parade that included Queen Beatrix was
aimed at the Dutch royal family, police said on Thursday (April 30).
Four people were killed and 13 injured, of which five are in a serious
condition, but no royals were hurt in the deliberate attack by a 38-year old
Dutchman on the Queen's Day holiday, police said in the town of Apeldoorn.

Television footage showed a small black Suzuki with a crumpled front
driving at high speed after ploughing through a crowd of spectators.
It missed an open-top bus carrying Queen Beatrix and the royal family
by four or five metres, before finally crashing into a stone monument. Police
detained the driver at the scene.
In the bus, Princess Maxima, wife of heir Willem-Alexander, looked on
in horror after the car hurtled through the crowd in the centre of the city,
about 90 km (56 miles) east of Amsterdam.
Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende told a news conference:
"We are all very disturbed by the events that happened on Queen's Day
that had started so well; some people have been badly injured and we have to
fear even worse news; we feel for the relatives."
Witness Paul Sneider told how he heard a noise and saw people flying
through the air as the car ploughed into them.
"I could see seven or eight people were hit by the car and landed
in various places on the road," he added.
Apeldoorn Mayor Sred De Graaf confirmed four deaths among the 17
injured and public prosecutor Ludo Goosens told a news conference: "Based
on the first contact that the police had with the suspect, it was aimed at the
royal family."
The government cancelled the remaining official activities on the
annual national holiday.