The violent events that broke out in Amsterdam on the sidelines of a soccer match Thursday evening between Ajax Amsterdam and the Israeli club Maccabi Tel-Aviv sparked reactions of indignation around the world.
• Also read: Amsterdam: “appalling” violence against Israeli supporters after a soccer match
Here’s what we know.
Upstream tensions
From Wednesday evening, the day before this Europa League match, incidents took place between the two camps in the streets of the Dutch capital.
“Maccabi supporters removed a flag from a facade on the Rokin [une rue du centre d’Amsterdam] and destroyed a taxi. A Palestinian flag was set on fire on the Dam, the city’s main square, Amsterdam’s police chief said Friday.
On Thursday afternoon, around a hundred Israeli supporters gathered on Dam Square, surrounded by a large police force, before going to the Johan Cruyff stadium, in the southwest of the city.
A pro-Palestinian rally to condemn the arrival of the Israeli club was initially planned near the stadium, but was moved a little further into the neighborhood by the town hall for security reasons.
Some 800 police officers were deployed for this soccer match, a significant number for Amsterdam.
Injuries and 62 arrests
Despite this, the night following the soccer match was very eventful, with violent incidents targeting Maccabi fans breaking out in several places in the city, local authorities explained.
At 1 a.m. (midnight GMT), a large group of Maccabi supporters gathered in Dam Square, where they were attacked. Authorities reported people hitting Israeli supporters before fleeing, calling them “hooligans on scooters.”
“The police had to intervene on several occasions, protecting Israeli fans and escorting them to their hotels. Despite the massive police presence in the city, Israeli fans were injured,” authorities said.
Police reported five people briefly hospitalized and 62 arrests following last night’s violent events.
Photo AFP
Police are investigating the footage
Images circulating on social networks on Friday and presented as filmed in Amsterdam, the origin of which AFP has not yet been able to verify, show what appears to be dozens of fans of the Maccabi Tel-Aviv club singing in Hebrew “Finish the Arabs!” We’re going to win!” or even “Let the IDF win to finish off the Arabs.”
In other images, we see Israeli supporters reaching out to tear down a pro-Palestinian flag brandished through a window on a main avenue in the city center that they took to get to the stadium.
In other videos, people are seen pushing Israeli fans to the ground and beating them.
“We have also seen these images and we are in the process of reviewing them. They are part of the investigation,” a spokesperson for the Amsterdam police told AFP.
“We are trying to get a global picture” of what happened, he added.
Israel sends planes
Israel sent planes to repatriate Maccabi supporters. A first plane carrying Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam landed in Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon.
The head of Israeli diplomacy, Gideon Saar, was also due to urgently go to Amsterdam, his services said.
“Anti-Semitism”
The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, also condemned this “explosion of anti-Semitism”.
The UN and the EU have also expressed their outrage.
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, condemned the violence which recalls “the most shameful hours in history”, and Berlin judged the images of the violence committed in Amsterdam “terrible and deeply shameful for us in Europe”.
In Israel, the authorities reacted very strongly. Benjamin Netanyahu said he considered “the appalling incident with the greatest seriousness” and demanded that the Dutch authorities act “vigorously and quickly against the rioters”. He also ordered the Mossad to prepare an action plan to avoid violence during sporting events.
The violence also provoked reactions from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the leader of the official opposition in Ottawa, Pierre Poilievre.
Mr. Trudeau described “terrifying” scenes on the social network X which reflect “a dark moment for our world, a moment that we have already experienced”.
The conservative leader, for his part, denounced the fact that “Jews were once again being chased into Europe.”
The Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, also condemned the events perpetrated in Amsterdam last night.
“The anti-Semitic acts of violence that occurred yesterday in Amsterdam are completely unacceptable and revolting. We must denounce them loud and clear. I have a thought for the Jewish community and for the victims,” Mr. Legault wrote on his X account.
And the mayor of Montreal also felt concerned by the violent actions that occurred in Amsterdam.
“In my name and that of Montrealers, I condemn the terrible anti-Semitic attacks that occurred in Amsterdam. While the world is under tension, it is more necessary than ever to rally around the values of peace, solidarity and respect,” mentioned Valérie Plante on X.
