Four people held after attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam
Amsterdam police are holding four people suspected of committing “open violence” in the attacks this week on Israeli soccer fans, the Dutch public prosecutor’s office said Saturday. The Dutch prime minister, meanwhile, canceled a trip to U.N. climate talks following the attacks, which were condemned by Dutch and Israeli officials as “antisemitic attacks.”
Clashes before and after the match Thursday night between the Dutch team Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv sent five people to the hospital.
Sixty-two people were arrested. Forty have been fined for public disturbance, authorities said Saturday. Others were released but were still under investigation for offenses including vandalism. Investigators are expected to make more arrests, they said.
The violence erupted around the Thursday Europa League match at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruijff Arena. Maccabi fans vandalized a taxi and set fire to a Palestinian flag before the contest, Dutch police have said. Video posted online shows Israelis chanting anti-Arab slogans.
Assailants chased Maccabi fans through the streets of the capital, assaulting them and pelting them with fireworks in what Mayor Femke Halsema said were “hit and run” attacks. Many of the assailants were on scooters, police have said.
Halsema said there was “no excuse” for the attacks on Israeli spectators.
More than 800 officers were deployed and riot police had to intervene to protect Maccabi supporters and escort them to their hotels, justice minister David van Weel told the parliament.
“The question of whether suspects may have been operating as an organization and whether there were anti-semitic motives is also under investigation,” he wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
Authorities invoked emergency bylaws in Amsterdam to ban protests and face coverings over the weekend.
Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Saturday canceled his planned trip to the COP 29 climate conference beginning Monday in Azerbaijan to address the “major social impact” of the attacks.
The Council of Ministers will discuss the attacks Monday, he said in a post on X; a sub-council is to discuss antisemitism on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Schoof planned to meet with Jewish and social organizations to discuss “the approach to antisemitism and the unrest and concerns that exist there.”
The Dutch House of Representatives plans to hold a debate on the attacks “in the short term,” he said.
Schoof will be represented in Azerbaijan by climate minister Sophie Hermans and national climate envoy Jaime de Bourbon de Parme, he said.
The heads of several major economies, including the United States, China, Germany, Brazil and Mexico, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, already were planning to skip the summit.
Schoof hosted Israeli foreign minister Gidon Sarr at his official residence on Saturday.
“The events in Amsterdam affected him deeply and he shared with me his great concern and horror about the growing antisemitism,” Schoof posted on X with a picture of the two men. “I told him that the Dutch government is doing everything it can to ensure that the Jewish community in our country feels safe.”