Man, 27, on trial over Pride arson attack with 'terrorist motive'

A 27-year-old man identified only as A. stood trial in Amsterdam on Tuesday accused of two arson attacks, one on a train and one on a dressing room set up for Amsterdam's Pride event, which prosecutors say were carried out with a terrorist motive.

A. set fire to a train seat on a service from Utrecht to Amsterdam Centraal on 2 August 2025, then set fire to the curtain of a temporary changing room set up for Pride, prosecutors said. A bystander put out the second fire, but the dressing room had to be cleared; no one was injured in either incident. Police arrested A. in Amsterdam in July this year, nearly a year after the fires, following an anonymous tip and further investigation; he has admitted to both fires, according to RTL Nieuws.

Prosecutors said A. received 750 euros into his bank account on the day of Pride Amsterdam, with the payment described as a "gift." He bought a small amount of petrol the day before the fires and has given no plausible explanation for it, prosecutors said; his lawyer said it is not clear whether the petrol was used.

A public prosecutor told the court A. had a terrorist motive and that the attacks had frightened the LGBTIQ+ community. His lawyer, Shruti Toelsie, said her client had lost his way in the period before the attacks, using drugs, losing his work as a self-employed contractor, becoming homeless and losing contact with his family, and that he has since turned his life around without help from official services. Tuesday's hearing was the first since his arrest.

The trial comes as surveys cited by RTL Nieuws suggest acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people in the Netherlands has declined in recent years. Seven in ten LGBTIQ+ people say acceptance has fallen over the past three years, the broadcaster's own research found, while a separate study by Utrecht University and the Trimbos Institute found acceptance of homosexuality among young people fell sharply between 2021 and 2025.