“Lazio fans are not welcome.” Thus the municipality of Amsterdam has announced that it will ban the Biancocelesti fans from traveling in view of the Europa League match with Ajax scheduled for Thursday 12 December. The decision, as stated in a press release, “was agreed between the mayor, police chief and attorney general. The risk of far-right, anti-Semitic and racist demonstrations was deemed too great”.
Some Lazio fans are threatening not to respect the ban
A ban that, at least if you read the chats and social media frequented by Lazio fans, many are threatening not to respect. While others remember the damage caused in 2015 by the Feyenoord ultras in the center of Rome. From what we understand, the company is following the diplomatic and institutional channels of football to clarify the situation.
UEFA: “High risk match”
Ajax-Lazio on December 12 was described as a “high-risk match” by UEFA and the police, the municipality underlined. “Some Lazio fans are known for their far-right and fascist sympathies and for their anti-Semitic and racist expressions. In particular they gave the Hitler salute, displayed swastikas and insulted the effigy of Anne Frank”, we read in the press release, adding that there is “no place in Amsterdam for expressions of racism and fascism”. The note also recalls that “the match takes place in a period of great tension in the city” which the municipality links to “the war in Palestine, Israel and other countries in the Middle East”.
Decision taken after the Ajax-Maccabi incidents
The decision, not surprisingly, comes three weeks after the Dutch capital was rocked by violence following the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv. On the night of November 7-8, supporters of the Israeli team were chased and beaten in the streets of Amsterdam, during attacks described as anti-Semitic by the Netherlands and several Western countries. The attacks were the culmination of two days of skirmishes in which Maccabi fans also sang anti-Arab songs, vandalized a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag.
#Lazio #fans #Ajax #antiSemitic
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