Dutch PM 'ashamed' by Amsterdam attacks on Israeli soccer fans
City bans demonstrations for 3 days, gives police emergency stop-and-search powers
Amsterdam banned demonstrations for three days from Friday while giving police emergency stop-and-search powers after overnight attacks on Israeli soccer supporters, as the Israeli government said it would fly many fans home.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were "attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks" by what she described as "antisemitic hit-and-run squads," and riot police had to intervene several times to protect them and escort them to hotels.
Israel was sending commercial planes to the Netherlands on Friday to bring home Israeli soccer fans after overnight attacks in Amsterdam that officials described as antisemitic, although there was evidence of provocative chanting from Israeli fans.
Videos circulating on social media showed riot police intervening in street clashes, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs.
Some footage also showed Israeli supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday evening's match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam.
Five people were treated in the hospital and released, while some 20 to 30 people suffered light injuries, police said. At least 62 suspects were arrested, with 10 still in custody, the city's public prosecutor, René de Beukelaer, told reporters at a news conference Friday.
While there were initial reports of Israeli fans being unaccounted for, by mid-afternoon on Friday, police in Amsterdam said there were no missing persons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the order to send planes was taken after "a very violent incident" targeting Israeli citizens after the match between Maccabi and Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as a Jewish club.
The Israeli airlines El Al and Arkia announced five flights to Amsterdam.
An eyewitness captured a video verified by Reuters showing a group of men running near Amsterdam central station, chasing and assaulting other men, as police sirens sounded.
However, another verified video showed Maccabi fans setting off flares and chanting "Ole, ole, let the IDF win," referring to the Israel Defence Forces, followed by derogatory language directed at "Arabs."
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he was "ashamed about what happened in the Netherlands," to reporters on the sidelines of a summit of European Union leaders in Budapest. "It has been a dreadful night."
Schoof assured Netanyahu by phone that "the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted," he said in a statement on the social media platform X.
Have been following the news from Amsterdam and am horrified by the antisemitic attacks on Israeli citizens. This is completely unacceptable. I am in close contact with all parties involved and have just spoken to <a href="https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IsraeliPM</a> Netanyahu by phone to stress that the perpetrators will…
—@MinPresNo prior threat warning
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who he said had "expressed deep horror and shock over the criminal acts committed."
Politician Geert Wilders, head of the largest party in the Dutch government, said he was "ashamed that this can happen in the Netherlands."
In a vitriolic post on the social media platform X, he blamed "criminal Muslims" and said they should be deported.
Police said there had been incidents before the match at Johan Cruyff Arena, for which roughly 3,000 Maccabi supporters travelled to Amsterdam.
A Palestinian flag was torn down from a building in Amsterdam on Wednesday, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported, and authorities banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the stadium. Police chief Peter Holla told reporters some Maccabi supporters set a Palestinian flag on fire on Wednesday in the city's Dam Square.
Halsema said Friday the Dutch counterterrorism watchdog said there was no concrete threat to Israeli soccer fans detected before the game. But afterwards, she said, youths on scooters crisscrossed the city in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing quickly to evade police.
They said fans had left the stadium without incident after the Europa League match, which Ajax won 5-0, but that clashes erupted overnight in the city centre.
Antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands have surged since Israel launched its assault on Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, with many Jewish organizations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.
The Gaza war has sparked protests in support of both sides across Europe and the United States, including in Amsterdam, where the opening of a new Holocaust museum by Herzog led to violent protests by pro-Palestinian activists.
More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and 102,000 others injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack, according to health officials in the enclave, after the Palestinian militant group killed some 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israel.
Hamas spokesperson Abu Zuhri, in a statement, said "the Amsterdam incidents confirm that the ongoing genocide in Gaza, broadcast live without international action to halt it and hold those responsible accountable, can lead to such spontaneous reactions."
With files from The Associated Press