Graffiti group posts video of attack on Amsterdam metro

A group of some 20 masked and hooded graffiti writers stopped a metro in Amsterdam Nieuw-West and sprayed the entire train with paint within minutes, leaving passengers inside stranded.

The action took place at the Henk Sneevlietweg stop last Saturday on Halloween. A video uploaded Tuesday on YouTube by the anonymous graffiti writers’ group Locos Worldwide, titled “Amsterdam Nightmare”, shows the sprayers entering the station and speed-spraying the train in orange, purple and black before running away cheering.

They also threw a bicycle onto the tracks and spray painted the driver’s window, leaving the train unable to move.

Shaken and shocked

“Our driver is quite shocked by the incident,” a spokesman for Amsterdam transport company GVB said. “We can also imagine that this was a frightening situation for travellers.”

The GVB, which called the incident a “serious form of vandalism”, has filed a police report. It’s still not known who is responsible for the action, but the GVB says it plans to seek compensation from the “perpetrators” when they are identified.

They tagged the train with apparent acronyms ‘NSPSKU’ and ‘LCSNTC’. NSPS has been tagged on transit vehicles in the past.

Police say they are taking the incident “seriously” and have appealed to the public to come forward with any video images they may have.

The GVB says that while graffiti does happen, the scale of the Halloween night action is extraordinary. Not only was the driver severely shaken, but the ordeal was a “potentially terrifying situation for passengers as well”.

And, according to the GVB, it put them at risk. “There was not only a subway smeared, but also a bicycle thrown on the track. That entails major security risks,” a spokesman said.

Five years ago, Locos Worldwide uploaded another video showing a masked group spray painting an in-service Amsterdam metro. The group also posts similar actions that have taken place across Europe, including in Paris, Madrid and Copenhagen.