Two decades ago a man took 45 children and seven educators hostage for 28 hours, in what would turn out to be the most dramatic criminal case in Luxembourg's history with global media attention.
On 31 May 2000 Neji Bejaouti entered a crèche in Wasserbillig and kidnapped 45 children and seven educators. Bejaouti, with Tunisian background and living in Luxembourg for over a decade already, was armed with a pistol and two hand grenades.
Parents of the children were called to the nearby cultural centre, where they were accompanied by psychologists. No one knew how long the hostage taking would last.
Several groups of children were released throughout the day. One of the major turning points occurred when the kidnapper requested a Luxair aircraft be chartered to fly him to Libya. Negotiators accepted, and placed the aircraft on standby at Findel airport. He also sought live airtime on TV, which police took as an opportunity to prepare a possible intervention as soon as he'd step out of the crèche.
The New York Times reported at the time that the world's largest journalists' organisation has asked for an investigation of Luxembourg police tactics after officers posed as a television crew and lured the kidnapper into an ambush to end the hostage taking.
When Bejaouti emerged for a televised interview, holding a child and a grenade, police officers posing as cameramen shot him in the head. Despite two shots at near point-blank range, the kidnapper recovered from his injuries. It took police 28 hours before he was immobilised.
Upon his sentencing to 22 years in prison, it turned out the kidnapper had raped crèche educators. The Guardian wrote that the reason behind the attack was Bejaouti's frustration about losing custody of his own children, and his unhappy personal life that was falling apart.
Video report in Luxembourgish
