Amsterdam, Nov 9: Israeli fans and protesters clashed overnight after a soccer match in Amsterdam, leaving five people hospitalised and 62 arrested, police said Friday. Dutch authorities said attackers systematically targeted Israeli fans.It was not clear how the violence began. Dutch and Israeli leaders denounced the violence as antisemitic. Video also showed Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans in the streets at some point.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema told reporters Friday that the Dutch counter-terror watchdog said there was no concrete threat to Israeli soccer fans before the game.
Peter Holla, the city’s acting police chief, said at the news conference that the fans were “willfully attacked.”
Condemnation of the violence poured in from Jewish groups. Israel’s foreign minister left on an urgent diplomatic trip to the Netherlands. Security concerns have shrouded matches with Israeli teams in multiple countries over the past year because of global tensions linked to the wars in the Middle East.
The Amsterdam police said in a post on social media platform X that they have started a major investigation into multiple violent incidents. The post did not provide further details about those injured or detained in Thursday night’s violence following the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Authorities said extra police would patrol Amsterdam in coming days, and security will be beefed up at Jewish institutions in the city that has a large Jewish community and was home to Jewish World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupiers.
Earlier, a statement issued by the Dutch capital’s municipality, police and prosecution office said that the night “was very turbulent with several incidents of violence aimed at Maccabi supporters” after antisemitic rioters “actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them.”
It was not immediately clear when and where violence erupted after the match.
“In several places in the city, supporters were attacked. The police had to intervene several times, protect Israeli supporters and escort them to hotels. Despite the massive police presence in the city, Israeli supporters have been injured,” the Amsterdam statement said.
“This outburst of violence toward Israeli supporters is unacceptable and cannot be defended in any way. There is no excuse for the antisemitic behaviour exhibited last night,” it added.