Violence in Amsterdam: Dutch Prime Minister cancels his participation in COP29

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced Saturday that he has canceled his trip to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP29, which begins next week in Baku, Azerbaijan, due to attacks on Israeli soccer fans occurred this week in the Dutch capital.

I remain in the Netherlands due to the major social impact of last Thursday evening's events in Amsterdamexplained Mr. Schoof on the social network

The Dutch Minister for Climate, Sophie Hermans, will participate in the summit scheduled for November 11 to 22 and an emissary will replace the head of government, the latter said.

Mr. Schoof specified that the violence that occurred in Amsterdam will be the subject of a government meeting on Monday. Discussions on the fight against anti-Semitism will take place on Tuesday.

On Thursday, several people were injured in attacks on the sidelines of a soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Police reported five people briefly hospitalized and dozens of arrests.

Videos filmed during the evening showed demonstrators hitting people lying on the ground and chanting anti-Jewish slogans as well as supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv chanting anti-Arab slogans before the meeting.

After the game, groups of individuals attacked supporters of the Israeli team before fleeing on scooters between each attack, in several neighborhoods of the city.

This violence was strongly criticized in the Netherlands, the Dutch Prime Minister, in particular, having denounced an terrible anti-Semitic attackas well as abroad.

The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, introduced emergency measures following these events. Security was reinforced and demonstrations were banned for three days.

Israel, for its part, organized emergency flights to repatriate its citizens. The first of these planes landed in the Israeli capital on Friday.

Four suspects still detained

Dutch police are continuing their investigation into the circumstances of these violent acts.

Authorities are investigating whether the attacks, which occurred after the Europa League soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and the Israeli club, were planned.

It is also a question of determining whether the Netherlands could have ignored warnings from Israel ahead of the meeting.

In total, 63 individuals were arrested in connection with these events. Four of them, including two minors, were still in detention on Saturday, according to police.

Authorities expect there to be more arrests as investigators analyze video of the events.

The public prosecutor's office said it intends to apply speedy justice as much as possiblesaid the Dutch Minister of Justice and Security, David Van Weel, adding that the identification of each suspect constitutes a top priority.

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Israeli police, which are participating in the Dutch investigation, said in a statement that officers and forensic identification experts met with supporters as they exited nine planes from Amsterdam.

Among them were more than 170 witnesses and more than 230 victims, and forensic evidence was collected from dozens of themspecifies the press release.

Amsterdam residents shaken

In the Jodenbuurt, a Jewish neighborhood of Amsterdam, police officers monitored the Portuguese synagogue and the Jewish historical museum on Saturday.

Two days after the violent events, some residents of the Dutch capital were still in shock.

I am totally opposed to what Israel is doing in the Gaza Strip and I think it is horrible and goes beyond the limits. But what happened in Amsterdam went too farsaid Edit Tuboly, a 61-year-old woman interviewed in the aisles of the market, her arms full of bags.

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Joana Cavaco, 28, president of the anti-Zionist Jewish collective Erev Rav, created two years ago in the Netherlands, believes that it is worrying to see that we are talking about the security of Jews without seeing what is happening on the ground.

According to Ms. Cavaco, Maccabi supporters felt they had carte blanche and began the provocations as soon as they arrived.

We don't feel safe because Israel dictates how the world perceives usshe said.

The number of anti-Semitic events has increased sharply in the Netherlands since the start of the conflict in the Gaza Strip launched by Israel after the attack by Hamas in the south of its territory on October 7, 2023.

With information from Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters