Dutch ministers hold emergency meeting following Paris attacks

Atrium justice ministryOfficials at the Dutch ministry of security and justice are holding an emergency meeting in The Hague on Saturday to discuss whether extra precautions need to be taken in the Netherlands following the terror attacks in Paris.

Security service officials and experts from the counter terrorism office will also be at the discussion table, news agency ANP said.

Prime minister Mark Rutte, deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher and the ministers of justice, foreign affairs and home affairs will join the officials later in the morning.

Among the options being considered is a further tightening of the borders, broadcaster Nos said. Rutte is expected to make a public statement after the meeting.

King Willem-Alexander said on his Facebook page that he is ‘deeply shocked’ by the Paris killings.‘We are mourning with the people of France,’ he said.

‘Together with the people of France we will defend freedom against those who try to undermine it with terror… our thoughts are with all the victims of these cowardly attacks.’

The official terror threat in the Netherlands remains ‘substantial’, which means security experts think there is a real threat of an attack.

Nos says security has also been stepped up at refugee centres around the country because of concerns they could be the subject of revenge attacks by right-wing extremists.

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