There were no newspapers yesterday, Dutch Liberation Day, so almost all today's front pages show the scenes of chaos at Tuesday evening's national remembrance ceremony in Amsterdam's Dam Square. The favourite image is of Queen Beatrix and members of the royal family being rushed unceremoniously away from the perceived danger.

The papers tell us that a series of events led to panic in the thousands-strong crowd that had joined the queen for two minutes' silence in honour of the dead of the Second World War and hostilities and peace missions since.

The two minutes were almost up when a man in the crowd started screaming. Another dropped his case out of fright which caused a bang, setting off cries of "a bomb, a bomb". In the ensuing stampede to get away from the area, 63 people were hurt. Luckily, the worst injuries were broken bones.

"Loony sows terror in Dam Square",  reads the headline in AD. The man that disrupted the ceremony is apparently homeless and has mental problems. He is of Dutch origin but, for the last few years, has dressed as an Orthodox Jew. During the two minutes' silence, he started muttering to himself and then began to scream. "I thought: he's reciting some Bible texts and then is going to blow himself up," an eyewitness tells us.

Security failure
Trouw wheels in a expert to point out what might seem an obvious security failure. He has nothing but praise for how the situation was dealt with by the authorities, describing their actions as "quick and efficient". However, how did a man with a case get to be in the crowd?

"Fortunately, there was nothing in the case, but I think that a crowd which comes so close to the queen should undergo strict screening," he says. Technology and a police 'stop and search' policy, he believes, could prevent incidents like that of Tuesday evening. "These are measures which are all part of up-to-date management of major crowds," he explains.

Edgy crowd
Nrc.next goes for a more personal approach with the headline: "Will I go to Dam Square next year?" Elsbeth Witt was at the ceremony, trying to think of the victims of war and not of herself during those two minutes of silence. She heard loud bangs and everyone ducked to the ground. She describes the domino effect: the whole square full of people looked like a carpet that someone was shaking. "You just think: Get away, away, away," she explains.

She says everyone in the crowd was on edge because of the attempted attack on the royal bus during last year's Queen's Day celebrations and believes no amount of security measures will make people less likely to panic. If every noise leads to a panic reaction in the crowd, she thinks, the two minutes' silence will be changed for ever.

Media to blame
De Volkskrant picks up on this theme under the headline, "A frightened little country, or not?" It asks: "Could a man with mental problems have caused so much panic at a national remembrance ceremony ten years ago?" An expert denies that security measures actually increase people's perception of the dangers. He assures us there is indeed more to worry about these days from "groups which for ideological reasons want to dislocate society".

However, a psychologist informs us that the Netherlands has in fact become safer over the years. "There are fewer murders. There are fewer wars. We live longer, are more healthy. We are threatened by fewer serious diseases. But people are made fearful and edgy by the media," he argues. Before 9/11, "if a disturbed man had done something like that, he'd have been called to order by those around him and nothing would have happened," he maintains.

Business as usual
Like the other papers, De Telegraaf has a banner photograph of the royal family being rushed away from Dam Square in confusion. Underneath, however, a serenely confident and smiling Queen Beatrix, bouquet in hand, is pictured at last night's Liberation Day concert, also held in Amsterdam. "Honour to the Queen" reads the loyal mass-circulation daily's headline.

It reports that she was greeted with applause when she attended the open-air concert, an annual event which celebrates the anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation 65 years ago. The concert audience treated her like a "real heroine" apparently because she had kept her calm during the remembrance ceremony incident, making the decision herself to return to the square and continue the ceremony within just a few minutes.

The paper says the atmosphere at the concert was one of relief. It was royal business as usual and her majesty was treated to a programme of music by Puccini, Lou Reed and Toon Hermans.