Siege of Gothendral
The Siege of Gothendral (Delkoran: Stormen på Gothendral) was a police standoff that occurred in June 1991 in Gothendral, Delkora. The incident began when Marius Lauritzen broke into the Førelskov State House (Førelskov Statshuset) in Gothendral and barricaded himself in an office. As police surrounded the building, Lauritzen made outlandish demands, which attracted media attention and embarrassed the Førelskovian and federal governments.
The standoff ended when Chancellor Ulrik Andersen ordered the Federal Police's Tactical Response Division to storm the State House. When the division broke into the office, they found it empty: Lauritzen had already been lured out of the building by Førelskov State Police and arrested.
The incident took place the day before the 1991 Federal Election, and influenced the result. Andersen's Conservative–Agrarian coalition lost seats, and he was attacked for ordering the building stormed by a TRD unit, an action seen as disproportionate and ridiculous. However, Emma Jørgensen's National Labor also faltered slightly, due to gains by left-wing parties such as the Greens, Radical Front, and unexpectedly, the United Loony Front, a coalition of joke and single-issue parties. Jørgensen failed to constitute a government, and Andersen remained in office.
The ultimately peaceful resolution of the situation and Lauritzen's comical demands made the siege an iconic event of modern Delkoran history. It has been depicted in film and referenced in popular culture.
Background
A federal election was due in Delkora in 1991. Due to health issues, Chancellor Lars af Vellarand announced he would not seek another term, and was replaced as chancellor-candidate by interior minister Ulrik Andersen. Vellarand's Conservative–Agrarian coalition had been in office since 1983, during which time it had sought to reverse the New Kingdom program, with limited success.
The Federal Parliament was dissolved in [May?]. Early opinion polls gave a narrow lead to Emma Jørgensen's National Labor, but difficult coalition negotiations were expected. The lead passed repeatedly between Jørgensen and Andersen's parties during the campaign. The Conservatives struggled with public antipathy towards their program, and lingering controversy from the kidnapping of former Chancellor Geirbjørn Feldengaard in 1989, which had seen the government accused of stonewalling for political purposes.
In response to a jibe Andersen made in Parliament about the "loony left", several joke and single-issue parties formed an electoral alliance, the United Loony Front (Forenet Vanvittige Front). Its name was chosen specifically to have the same acronym as the authoritarian socialist United Leftist Front (Forenet Venstreorienteret Front). The Loonies staged several publicity stunts attacking Andersen over the Feldengaard kidnapping, including parking sound trucks in front of his rallies to play Tone Revolution Dancefest's "Hvem...?".
The election was notable for the high-profile involvement of Delkora's burgeoning grunge and alternative rock scenes in activism, particularly from Gothendral's underground. The last opinion poll of the campaign was published a week before election day, and showed that the Conservatives and National Labor were essentially tied.
Perpetrator
Marius Lauritzen (10 June 1969 – 14 September 2003) was a mathematics student at Førelskov State University in Gothendral and amateur photographer. He was known as a psychedelics enthusiast and unconventional protester. Before the incident, he had been in trouble with university authorities for several pranks he had staged, and had been referred to counselling out of concern for his mental health.
Friends and acquaintances described Lauritzen as gregarious and eccentric. He was passionate about music, particularly rock and psychedelia, and was a fan of Gylian popular culture. Contacted by the media during the standoff, one of his professors commented, "If he'd taken up writing or learning an instrument, I'm not sure this would've happened."
Events
Lauritzen missed classes on 5 June 1991, and spent most of the day in bed. He had been drinking heavily the night before. His roommate found him asleep in the afternoon, and left without disturbing him. He woke up sometime towards the evening, and left the dormitory, buying take-out from a nearby restaurant. He was wearing acid-washed shorts, flip-flops, and a faded purple tie-dyed Jimi Hendrix T-shirt. He then wandered around Gothendral.
Police were unable to establish his whereabouts before the siege, but it is believed he stopped to purchase alcohol, as he had an empty bottle of whiskey on him at the time, as well as a towel and roll of masking tape.
Break-in
A little after 3:00 AM, Lauritzen arrived at the Førelskov State House. He evaded a police officer on patrol, and spent an hour surveying the scene and waiting. Nearly an hour later, he approached a glass door on the south side, from Westergaard Street. He placed strips of masking tape on the door to muffle the noise, wrapped a towel around his whiskey bottle, and broke the glass with it, gaining access to the building at 4:04.
Although the building had recently undergone a security upgrade, there were no sensors on the glass doors. The computerised alarm system still registered the building as secure.
Lauritzen made his way into the State House. He used office stationery to write two notes for the police, leaving one near the entrance and another down the hall. In the main lobby, he rode an elevator up and down for a while before getting off out of fear he was under surveillance.
Around 4:15, he used a pay phone on the fifth floor to call 112, and told the dispatcher, "The State House is occupied and you will find a note by the door." The dispatcher alerted Førelskov State Police, which sent two officers and a police dog to investigate. Upon arrival, the officers failed to find the broken door, assumed the report was false, and left around 5:00.
Lauritzen continued walking around the empty building. At some point, he discarded his shorts and flip-flops, which were found elsewhere in the building. On the fourth floor, he found the office of the Førelskov Assembly's serjeant-at-arms. The door had been left unlocked by a painting crew the previous evening. He entered the office and barricaded the door behind him, shoving a leather couch behind the wooden doors.
He found himself in a suite of two administrative offices and a small kitchen. He explored the two rooms, finding a box of cigars, a stash of liquor bottles, and wafers, which he ate. Crucially, he also found a computer connected to the internet, through Delkora's NREN and the Commonet. He made coffee in the kitchen, before going back to the serjeant's office, where he poured a glass of bourbon and lit a cigar.
Media alerted
Lauritzen began preparing a list of demands towards dawn. He also turned on the computer, and accessed the Commonet, finding his way to the GUNET. He faxed his list of demands to the song request line of X107, a local rock station. He tried to call the police, but gave up due to a busy line. Instead, he called the office of Gothendral's alternative weekly, which first learned of the occupation.
Monika Riis, a custodian at the State House, came to the fourth floor around 7:15, where she discovered Lauritzen's discarded shorts and flip-flops, as well as a number of knocked-over information signs and ornamental books strewn about the lobby. She unlocked the door of the serjeant's office, but couldn't open it. She noticed something blocking the door from the inside, and pushed the door harder, managing to open it by a few millimetres.
Before she could try to peek through the doorway, a startled Lauritzen threw his whiskey bottle at the door. The bottle smashed against the door, splashing Riis. She panicked and retreated to the third floor, where she found a co-worker, and together they reported the incident to the police. She was given medical attention and excused for the rest of the day.
Lauritzen phoned the Førelskov State Police again. The operator recalled him "rambling about how society needed to wake up and stop being automatons". He told them his demands, and mentioned the written list had been faxed to X107, causing an officer to be dispatched to retrieve it.
Among other things, he asked for: a large vegetarian pizza, a case of Akashian beer, a carton of cigarettes, ⊻100 worth of Quenminese food, a police band scanner, a DBS news crew within an hour, and 666 donuts "for my fine friends in the Gothendral Police Department".
Standoff
The Førelskov State Police evacuated the State House and surrounded it. They didn't know if Lauritzen was armed or had a hostage, and proceeded cautiously. They were concerned by the end of his list of demands: "It would not be advisable to enter the building as you have no hard data concerning the # of hostiles and their weaponry." A police negotiator was brought in, who made contact with Lauritzen on the phone.
To win his trust, the police fulfilled two of the demands: they brought pizza and cigarettes. On his instructions, they were thrown through the fourth floor window with an improvised catapult. He thanked them for the delivery, then panicked and dragged a bookshelf in front of the window.
Lauritzen had demanded to talk on the telephone with certain people, and the police got him in contact with Kol Vossgaard. Vossgaard spoke with Lauritzen, who told him he wanted to protest against poverty, homelessness, and cuts to higher education. Vossgaard failed to get any information about his occupation of the building. Speaking to the media later, he described Lauritzen as "a confused young man with good intentions".
Emboldened by his conversation with Vossgaard, Lauritzen pressed on with his plan to garner media attention for his protest. He called in to a show on X107, and was put on the air. The host, unaware of the situation, assumed he was a prank caller and played along. Lauritzen treated the call as a rehearsal of sorts, using the host's questions to prepare for his statement.
Some time around 9:00, the DBS news crew requested had arrived. Lauritzen spoke to them by phone, and demanded that they broadcast his demands live. The news crew agreed, as news of the incident was already spreading and the State Police feared a hostage situation. An employee of the State House was brought in and connected Lauritzen by phone to the building's loudspeaker system. When the live transmission began, Lauritzen made a rambling, profanity-laden statement:
"Am I on?... I'm on?... Everyone, we have a message. We have an announcement to make. Stop living like robots, and take a look around. Ask yourself, why is there poverty? Poverty sucks, man. Why do we still have poverty? Delkora is fucking rich! How can there still be people who don't have enough to eat, or a place to sleep? It's a disgrace, by the Æsir! Why is the government treating students like criminals? Why are they trying to starve universities, when professors do more good for the world than the rich? It's the nineties, things should not still be crap! It's outrageous. Delkora must abolish poverty, fuck The Man, and eliminate everything that prevents us from solving our problems. Oh, what in Loki's balls—"
Lauritzen briefly put down the phone, distracted by something in the office. DBS cut off the live transmission, and attempted to talk him into surrendering, or at least find out if there were hostages. Lauritzen simply replied, "I'm hungry", and began eating pizza.
Media coverage
The DBS report made the incident news throughout Delkora. One of the anchors described it as "a siege in Gothendral", and the "Siege of Gothendral" moniker stuck. Other media outlets dispatched their own reporters to the scene, and curious residents also began arriving near the State House, which caused difficulties for the State Police.
Gradually, Lauritzen realised he had managed to gain media attention for his story, and changed his approach. He encouraged a media circus, and spent the remainder of the standoff making outlandish demands and declarations, seeking to draw attention to his cause and embarrass the government through Situationist tactics. He used the GUNET to find and print pages related to Gylias' 1990 federal election, using the platforms of the LSD Party, Love, Nature, Democracy, and National Reconstruction Alliance for inspiration.
The State Police allowed other reporters to try to speak with Lauritzen, hoping they might uncover more information. One of them informed Lauritzen around 12:07 that Peder Thorup, First Minister of Førelskov, had condemned the siege in insulting terms. Irritated, Lauritzen demanded that Thorup "hold a press conference and eat shit on live television. He already spews so much of it talking I suspect he donated his ass for an organ transplant!" Soon after, the media swarmed Thorup's office, forcing him to affirm he would not fulfill the demand.
Andersen interrupted campaigning to fly back to Norenstal for an emergency cabinet meeting. Meanwhile, the State Police sent a team to sweep the State House, to determine how much of it was under siege. The operation lasted several hours.
Lauritzen spent the rest of the day drinking, smoking, and calling and faxing various media outlets and radio stations, making declarations at regular intervals to keep the story going. He demanded to speak with Moana Pozzi, a minister without portfolio in the Mathilde Vieira government. Chancellor Vellarand was preparing to reject this demand when he was surprised by a call from Prime Minister Mathilde Vieira, who said Moana was willing to have the conversation.
Moana was connected by phone to Lauritzen, who was similarly startled at first. The two had a surreal conversation, Lauritzen speaking in heavily-accented English, while Moana spoke Italian and her son Simone translated into English. Lauritzen spoke of his desire to protest against "the thoughtlessness and bullshit in the world"; Moana listened sympathetically and encouraged him, comparing his standoff with her own campaigning in the 1990 federal election. When he found out the details, Vellarand slammed his table and yelled, "She was supposed to talk him down, not egg him on!".
Around 14:37, the State Police ended their sweep of the State House, concluding that only the fourth floor was occupied. A Federal Police unit also arrived about this time, under orders from Andersen. Andersen feared a repeat of the Feldengaard kidnapping incident so close to the election, and preferred to risk escalation over being accused of vacillating again. The State Police protested that they had the situation under control and the Federal Police were not needed.
Throughout the day, Lauritzen continued making demands by calling DBS and other radio and television channels. These included:
• DBS should be sold off to GNBS. After all, DBS was at its best when a Gylian was in charge of it.
• The Royal Academy of Music should provide mandatory music education to hair metal bands.
• The Labor Underground should become the Labor Overground.
• The Royal Delkoran Armed Forces should provide free healthcare for everyone.
• The Royal Language Academy must create better swear words for Delkoran. How come English has better swear words? It's an outrage.
• Federal Police should crack down on the real menace to society: cocaine-addicted stock traders.
• Imposition of an undress code in the Federal Parliament.
• End discrimination against the tattooed.
• End gentrification in Norenstal's red-light district.
• Force rich Delkorans to wear signs in public reading "I'm a greedy bastard who wants to kill the poor".
One commentator noted that virtually all of his demands were tailored to amuse those watching the news and cause maximum embarrassment to the government. For instance, the DBS and RDAF demands attacked the Vellarand government's record on privatisation, conflicts with DBS, and attempts to increase defense spending while calling the welfare state unsustainable. Lauritzen himself admitted that calling for an end to gentrification in Norenstal's red-light district was intended to force the Mayor of Norenstal to "publicly come out as pro-gentrification, and anti-poor and sex workers."
A large crowd of people gathered around the State House, hampering the authorities. State Police spent hours focusing on crowd control, while remaining in conflict with Federal Police over jurisdiction. Inside, Lauritzen carried on drinking. The authorities lost contact with him for a few hours, coincidentally at the same time that State Police tried to break up a scuffle between Labor Underground and far-right protesters. It was later discovered Lauritzen had simply fallen asleep, but State Police feared violence and sought to de-escalate the situation.
By the evening, the siege was news across Tyran, and it had notably sympathetic coverage in the Gylian media. Despite Vellarand and Andersen trying to stop him, Lauritzen had several more telephone conversations with notable figures, Delkoran and foreign. Several of these contacted him out of their own initiative, rather than because he demanded to speak with them.
He called the The Havomar Report, which quickly improvised a live interview during which Nils Havomar asked Lauritzen which party he intended to vote for in the upcoming election, to which he replied, "My comrades in the Alliance for Guillotining Monarchs, of course. I mean seriously, how do we still have a fucking king? Are we living in the 1400's or something?" (Although there was not a party by that name at the time, it was later created under the banner of the United Loony Front and received several hundred votes in the 1994 federal election, but failed to win any seats.)
After the interview, he called Eddie Vinther, lead singer of Outlast, and the two chatted about the band's upcoming album. Vinther gave Lauritzen words of encouragement, telling him, "Don't let those cops get you down, man. You do what you think is right. Just be smart." Lauritzen then called the office of the ULF, which offered to nominate him to be the alliance's chancellor-candidate — he declined the offer, citing his ongoing university studies.
At the suggestion of the ULF, Lauritzen demanded to speak to Bente Eriksen, a member of the Førelskov Assembly for Radical Front. The two had a lengthy conversation about drug liberalization, with Eriksen agreeing to introduce legislation in the Assembly directing the state to open free LSD dispensaries for the public. (Eriksen followed through on this promise the following week — her bill was defeated in committee by a vote of 2 - 15).
Lauritzen spoke with several Gylians, including Mathilde Vieira — who congratulated him on his non-violent conduct —, Recreation Records founder Alison MacKay — who he jokingly asked, "Yo, when is the new My Bloody Valentine album coming out?" —, columnists Esua Nadel and Denise Sarrault, and Ranyi Sesyk — who told him, "Darling, you're doing everything perfectly. I wouldn't do a single thing differently."
On a whim, he also called The Prime Minister's Residence in Akashi, and to his surprise he got a hold of Prime Minister Shinobu Furukawa. He told Shinobu he admired her opposition to the neoliberal conspiracy and wished to start a similar "mass awakening" in Delkora, and asked her for advice. Shinobu listened nonplussed, and told him, "Whatever you do, make sure nobody gets hurt. You have the high ground, you would lose it if it doesn't end peacefully."
Andersen pressured the Federal Police to go over the State Police and intervene, or at least end the media circus. He was particularly outraged by Lauritzen's calls to Gylias, complaining that the Gylians treated him "like one of their heroes!". A Tactical Response Division unit was dispatched to the scene. In response, First Minister Thorup called Norenstal and harangued Vellarand for "blatant interference in state affairs".
As the night went on, Lauritzen grew increasingly tired. The effects of the alcohol wore off, and he felt dejected that his hoped-for "mass awakening" was not happening. He called the Gylian Senate and got on the phone with Margot Fontaine, telling her despondently, "I've failed. It's a waste of time. Nobody's listening to me." Margot consoled him and reassured him his protest had not been in vain, reminding him he had made a stand and had garnered the attention of the world.
Having stonewalled the Federal Police, the State Police on the scene decided to intervene, attempting to end the situation quickly before the TRD could be deployed.
Lauritzen's last phone call took place at 22:33, with National Reconstruction Alliance leader Lai Kalþan. Lai phoned on her own initiative, and congratulated him. She expressed admiration of his success in ridiculing the authorities, and joked that "we could use people like you in ARENA!", to which he quipped, "Thanks, but I couldn't handle the dress code." She advised him the most important thing was "knowing when to end things properly", and said he had done all he could, which he understood was her encouragement to end the standoff.
Resolution
Shortly after 22:45, the State Police cut the electricity in the State House, as demanded by the Federal Police.
Seeing the office without power and unable to call or fax anyone, Lauritzen decided to surrender. He pulled the bookshelf blocking the window, knocking it over in the process. He opened the window and put his head outside with his arms up. He shouted to onlookers, "It's only me! There's no one else! I'm ending it!"
State Police noticed the commotion, and mistook his statement for a suicide threat. They hastily brought a safety trampoline from firefighters, and urged Lauritzen to jump into it. Lauritzen did so, and was caught safely. It took a few minutes for State Police to realise he had been the occupier of the State House, and took him into custody.
Lauritzen was handcuffed and brought to a police car, then driven to a nearby hospital. In the car, a dazed Lauritzen asked the officers, "How... was the donuts?". The officer driving, feeling sorry for him, replied, "They were delicious." Lauritzen chuckled and then passed out.
Unaware that the perpetrator had been apprehended, the TRD unit stormed the State House at 22:50. They made their way up to the fourth floor, but failed to break open the door to the serjeant's office. They used a detonator to blast it open instead, destroying the couch in the process.
The unit stormed into the room, only to find it empty. They found empty and half-drunk liquor bottles, a "thick cloud" of cigarette smoke, print-outs strewn about the floor. In the darkness, one of the officers accidentally stepped and slipped on the empty pizza box.
Aftermath
Legal
Lauritzen was charged with breaking and entering, property damage, and unauthorised use of a government computer. The court found him guilty on two counts, but quashed the accusation of property damage, ruling that most of it was accidental, and the Federal Police had caused more damage by blasting open the door. He was given a suspended sentence and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.
He spent the remainder of his life in and out of psychiatric treatment, engaged in eccentric activism and protests, and working as a freelance photographer. He committed suicide on 14 September 2003.
Politics
The siege overshadowed the 1991 federal election, and had a paradoxical effect on the result. Andersen's Conservative–Agrarian coalition lost its majority, although the Conservatives narrowly retained a plurality. While some voters in rural areas approved of the deployment of Federal Police, others and most urban voters were outraged by the TRD storming the State House, finding it excessive since Lauritzen was unarmed and had no hostages.
National Labor's predicted gains failed to materialise, and the party instead lost 4 seats. Some of its voters voted for the Greens and Radical Front instead in protest. Lauritzen's outlandish demands were likened by one commentator to "a day of free advertising for the Loonies when election silence was in effect." To the media's surprise, the United Loony Front's support surged, and it won 16 seats. Much of their support came from previously disaffected youth voters, who showed up to vote for the Loonies specifically to humiliate the Conservatives instead of staying at home.
When the new parliament was sworn in, a chastened Andersen declined the first exploratory mandate. King Haldor VII instead asked Jørgensen to try to form a government. Jørgensen tried to form a coalition with the Liberals, backed by the far-left. However, she could not reach an agreement with the Radical Front, and gave up the mandate. Andersen tried to continue a centre-right coalition reaching out to the centre, but was humiliated when the Loonies defeated the government proposal. Eventually, Andersen managed to remain in office with the support of the Moderates.
Andersen's attempts to seem decisive and tough during the siege backfired severely. He led a precarious minority government, which never recovered from the embarrassment inflicted by Lauritzen, and became known as the "besieged Chancellor". In response to his first inaugural address, Jørgensen exclaimed, "What on earth was the Chancellor thinking, sending the Federal Police to Gothendral?". The remainder of the session saw Andersen attacked from all sides for his handling of the crisis. One Loony MP quipped that, "If the punishment should fit the crime, Marius should be sentenced to the Gylian Parliament. He'd fit right in."
Andersen took a moderate course, halting attempts to cut spending or weaken the New Kingdom program. He was forced by the opposition to open inquiries into various scandals and controversies, from the handling of the Feldengaard kidnapping incident to Delkorans involved in the neoliberal conspiracy and whether he had improperly pressured the Federal Police during the siege.
Ultimately, these investigations uncovered the Conservatives' links to the neoliberal conspiracy and involvement in corruption. Andersen was revealed to have engaged in bribery to gain favourable media coverage, pressured DBS to obtain more favourable coverage, and illegally induced paper candidates to run in some constituencies to split the left-wing vote. These revelations collapsed Andersen's government in a 1994 vote of no confidence, causing a snap election won by Jørgensen.
Kol Vossgaard's role in the siege boosted his national profile, and helped him win a seat in 1991 with the most personal votes of the Green Party list.
Diplomacy
After being sworn in as Chancellor, Andersen sent a letter to Mathilde Vieira condemning her behaviour in "encouraging" Lauritzen during the standoff.
In reply, Mathilde sent a photocopied tran of a conversation from Mette Elvensar's state visit, in which Elvensar joked "Is Miss Fortune still at large?", prompting laughter and Akane Tsunemori's reply, "Yes, she's hard to catch, a master of disguise." Mathilde attached to it the blunt remark, "Is a sense of humour exclusive to National Labour?".
In popular culture
Lauritzen became something of a folk hero after the standoff, perceived as a creative prankster and admired as a culture jammer. Some of his demands and statements became widely quoted, for the contrast between his courageous stand against injustice and his prosaic, at times naïve language.
Two books were written about Lauritzen's actions, based on interviews conducted with him by Margot Fontaine and Nora Gunnarsen. Margot and Nora were the ones he most trusted to tell his story. Their books acknowledged Lauritzen's considerable strength of will and courageous stand, and sympathetically discussed his struggles with the mental health system, describing him as an outsider who never managed to fit into society.
The siege remains the biggest security breach in the history of the Førelskov State House. After the incident, a raft of new security measures were put in place, including additional cameras, new door and window sensors, and improved cyber-security. The comic demands and embarrassment caused to the authorities made much of the public see Lauritzen as a "Gylian criminal", in the eccentric mold of Ranyi Sesyk. The siege has been referenced and depicted in pop culture. The scenario inspired the Delkoran comedies Pirate Radio (1992) and Rhythm and Blue Lights (1993), similarly depicting eccentric and bumbling protagonists who cause standoffs that turn into media circuses.