In August 2008, I went to the Netherlands for the 25th International Conference on Low Temperature Physics (LT25) organized by the Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium, Leiden Institute of Physics. The conference was held in the RAI Convention Center in Amsterdam from 6 to 13 August 2008.
In the evening of Monday, 11 August, I went for a walk through the central part of Amsterdam. At some point, I noticed a man standing at a street corner, who was taking pictures. Of course, there are many people taking pictures in the city full of tourists. However, the man has clearly directed his attention at me without even trying to hide it.
I moved slowly away into one of nearby streets. I was browsing window displays of businesses and shops. I noticed that the man was walking into the same street. I went into a small food store to let him walk past. Somewhat surprisingly, the picture taker decided to visit the same shop. I left the shop and continued along the street at a slightly faster pace now.
I came to a point where a bridge crossed a canal and a street followed the waterway to the left and right of the bridge. I stopped slightly to the right of the bridge and waited a little for the man to choose which way he would go. When he turned in my direction I moved to a street corner left of the bridge. The man immediately turned this way as well. Noticing this, I turned around and chose the opposite direction. The stranger did the same. He was openly following me.
I accelerated somewhat, stopped in front of a house and took a picture of him. At the picture below the stranger in a brown jacket is passing a row of parked cars. The bridge is behind on the right, barely visible.
I waited for him behind a larger car and when he approached, I took another picture.
Next, I went back to the bridge and walked back to the point where I first noticed the stranger. I looked back and took another photograph. You can seen him on the left side of the street. This means he turned back from the spot where I took the second picture and continued following me.
At the nearest street corner, I turned to a side street and moved away quickly, changing direction couple of times. There was a restaurant on the way. I entered and ordered a glass of beer. Here I spent some more time. Later, I went to a police station in the Amsterdam city center, reported the incident and provided information with pictures. After returning to Poland, I passed the same information and photographs to the Agency of Internal Security in Zielona Góra. The Agency did not seem to be interested.
Polish version: Amsterdam stalking wieczorem 11 sierpnia 2008
You must be logged in to post a comment.