TIME EUROPE
June 12, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 23
Lights, Camera, Shoot!
Police disguised as a TV crew trick a man to free children and teachers held hostage in Luxembourg
By JAMES GRAFF Wasserbillig
Luxembourg police needed some way to stop a crisis becoming a tragedy. A deranged man with a pistol, hand grenades, a knife and a gas canister last week entered the Sparrow's Nest daycare center, a stucco building framed by trees in the village of Wasserbillig, just across the Mosel River from Germany. Two teachers managed to escape with 17 children, but 29 others aged between three and 10 and three teachers were at the mercy of the man, identified as Neji Bejaoui, 39, a Tunisian-born Luxembourg citizen. Police suggested that Bejaoui, who has a history of mental problems, was bearing a grudge from six years ago when authorities revoked his custody of his two children, who had once attended the center.
All Wednesday night police, helped by his psychiatrist, had phone contact with Bejaoui. He demanded a minibus to take him to the airport, then a flight to Libya. Snipers ringed the building; microphones monitored activity inside; the press and onlookers gathered outside the community center where the children's families held vigil.
Bejaoui released four more children in the course of Thursday, but police feared for the rest. "The negotiations were very difficult, almost unbearable," said Interior Minister Michel Wolter. "He was extremely aggressive and his mood could change in a matter of 15 seconds." But they discerned a weakness: twice Bejaoui called a Luxembourg radio station. "He wanted to address the world and express his [sense of] injustice," said Wolter.
On that, the police built their strategy. They ordered Vic Reuter, station manager of RTL-Luxembourg, a private television outfit, to hand over an RTL car, three red RTL jackets, a television camera and microphone. "Our idea was to simulate an interview," said Wolter. An attempt in the morning failed when Bejaoui wouldn't come out. On Thursday evening, the team lured him onto the porch. He had a child in his arms and a teacher at his side. When he handed the child over to address the camera, he was felled by two shots to the head. A helicopter flew him to hospital, where he was declared out of danger on Friday.
All's well that ends well? "We have mixed feelings," said Reuter. "We're happy we contributed to resolving the crisis, but today a lot of us are wondering about the implications — maybe the next time journalists try to interview a gunman they'll be in greater danger." Aidan White, secretary-general of the European Federation of Journalists, expressed "strong reservations" about the police tactics. "We need to be convinced this was their only option," he said. "Can we imagine the police using clerics like this?" For the families involved, however, what mattered was that their children were safe and not headline material for the next day's news.
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June 12, 2000
SPECIAL REPORT
French Connected
Despite a legacy of state control, and an archaic political leadership, France is thriving — and modernizing — in the face of global competition
Venture Playground
A new spirit of entrepreneurship has created a thriving culture for Internet start-ups and fueled the country's robust growth. How the new economy is changing the way the French do business — and reshaping the nation itself
French Exodus
Driven out by excessive taxes and red tape, and also by a spirit of adventure, more and more French men and women are taking their talents abroad
Mixing Bowl
The French don't like to admit it, but decades of immigration have produced a multicultural society that is reinvigorating the nation
Vive Les Regions
Key provincial cities are emerging as the new vectors of economic development and cultural expression
From Decline to Renewal
Stanley Hoffman on France's success as a modern, middle-size power
EUROPE
The Victory Lap?
Europe toasts Clinton one more time, but the Atlantic relationship is showing strain
Soft Power Politics
Europe and the U.S. must seek a world beyond winners and losers
Battle of the Basques
Political inertia combines with disunity and distrust among Spain's national and regional security forces to play into the hands of the terrorist group ETA
Expensive Exposure
Hanover hopes Expo 2000 will put it on the map. It surely will, but the price of publicity will be high
Lights, Camera, Shoot!
Police disguised as a TV crew trick a man to free children and teachers held hostage in Luxembourg
AFRICA
Reliving Apartheid Horrors
The trial of a South African cardiologist accused of murder reopens old wounds
BUSINESS
Ad Land Goes Cyber
Virtual agencies are using the Web to create campaigns in record time, and without the bureaucracy
The Game of the Name
The struggle for Web dominance shows that brands matter just as much in the new economy as in the old
The Wide Blue Yonder
Giant airships could become commercially viable again six decades after the Hindenburg disaster
Battle Below the Belt
Designer Calvin Klein goes to court claiming a business partner is destroying his brand's image
SOCIETY
Tangled Webs for Sale
Planning a tryst or a day at the races away from the boss? A Scottish firm can cover your tracks — for a fee
THE ARTS
Recreating a Jewel
Egypt has built an updated version of the fabled Bibliotheca Alexandrina, but its commitment to intellectual freedom remains an open question
Thandie Makes It Possible
Her mission: to help make M:I-2 the hottest movie of the season. But first she tells you about Hollywood stupidity (and Tom's unusual sense of humor)
The Daily Courage
Journalist Benjamin Pogrund let the facts speak for themselves, no easy task in apartheid South Africa
DEPARTMENTS
Essay
To Our Readers
World Watch
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