Amsterdam continues preparations for royal wedding

(1 Feb 2002)
1. Tilt down from the Nieuwe Church (where the wedding ceremony will take place) to the entrance
2. Various rehearsal of guard of honour at the entrance
3. Various workers putting up flower decorations at the church entrance
4. Wide shot Dam Square and Royal Palace
5. Guards change at palace doors
6. Police on horses
7. Street banner reading: 'Alexander and Maxima'
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop
"Big celebration, very big celebration. We like it."
9. Windows at C&A shop which has temporarily changed its symbols to W(illem)&M(axima))
10. Close-up poster in shop window reading: 'Congratulations' in Spanish and Dutch
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop
"I think she (Maxima) is great and I am very happy for them. I wish them all the best and good luck. I think she is a very pretty woman and I think she is good for Holland."
12. Two children with orange crowns on their heads saying 'Hello Maxima'
13. More people with orange crowns
14. Pan from people to shop window with giant wedding flowers
15. Various interior of a shop with a giant wedding cake
16. Protester in front of the Royal Palace holding banner referring to killings in Argentina
17. Banner
18. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Daniel Rey Piuma, Protester from Uruguay
"What I am doing will not stop the marriage going ahead but what I am trying to do is draw the Dutch people's attention to the lie that their prince is living, who will one day become king here in the Netherlands. You can't deny that people were killed, it's like denying the Holocaust."
19. Police helicopter
20. Dam Square with police helicopter overhead
STORYLINE:
The Dutch are continuing to prepare for the wedding of their crown prince and his Argentine bride in Amsterdam on Saturday.
As part of a massive security operation, helicopters on Friday circled over central Amsterdam declared a high security zone and put under emergency regulations, giving police the authority to enter and search homes.
On Saturday, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, the 34-year-old son of Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus, will marry
Maxima Zorreguieta, a 30-year-old economist whom he courted for two years after meeting her at a party in Spain.
The official guest list names at least 70 kings, queens, grand dukes, princes, counts and lesser nobles.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and former South African President Nelson Mandela are among the honoured commoners.
Amsterdam buildings have been draped with banners of the national red, white and blue colours, as well as orange for the House of Orange, the 450-year-old dynasty from which the ruling family comes.
Maxima - as she is universally known - has been widely embraced by the Dutch public, an egalitarian people who normally take a respectful but reserved attitude toward their monarchy.
Security authorities have imposed extraordinary precautions.
The military has closed the air space over the city centre and police have erected 11 kilometres (7 miles) of fences and barricades to control the tens of thousands of spectators expected on Saturday.
Private cars and public trams have been diverted.
Security cameras are sweeping key areas and streaming video into a command bunker under City Hall.
Garbage bins that could conceal explosives have been removed.
Sharpshooters and riot police are on standby in discrete corners and rooftops.
A 50-metre (yard) walkway of bulletproof glass has been constructed to connect the Royal Palace on Dam Square with the Nieuwe Kerk, the 15th-century church where the couple's civil vows will receive the blessings of the Dutch Reformed Church and where a Roman Catholic priest will say a prayer.
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