NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 01:33
After Ajax’s football match against the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, it was restless in various places in Amsterdam at the beginning of the night. According to the channel AT5 there were disturbances in the centerit may have involved confrontations between pro-Palestinian youth and Maccabi supporters.
The situation was also grim in some places in the run-up to the match. Fireworks were set off and there were riots. Several dozen people have been arrested.
Update
After the response from Israel, further updates will be incorporated into a new article, which can be found via this link.
AT5 writes that at the beginning of the night, when Maccabi supporters came to the center by metro, chairs were thrown and destruction was caused. The mobile unit protected the Israelis and escorted them back to their hotel. Images show that police officers with dogs have been deployed on Dam Square.
A spokesperson spoke to the Amsterdam channel about reports of fights on the Damrak, the Dam and on the Stadhouderskade, near the Leidseplein.
Former Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett did on X a call to the authorities in the Netherlands to protect the Israelis.
Protest moved
Earlier in the evening, police kept pro-Palestinian youth away from the Johan Cruijff Arena, where the match started at 9 p.m. They wanted to protest there against the arrival of Maccabi Tel Aviv, but Mayor Halsema decided that the protest had to take place a kilometer away. She feared disturbances.
Young people shouted, among other things, ‘free Palestine‘, ‘no justice, no peace’, ‘fuck the police’ and ‘allahu akbar’.
It was also restless last night. For example, a Palestinian flag was pulled from a facade on Rokin and officers intervened on Max Euweplein because a group of taxi drivers and a group of visitors to a casino sought confrontation with each other.
Images of someone in a canal, possibly after being thrown in, were circulated on social media. A bystander can be heard shouting anti-Semitic abuse at him.
