Two days after the violence that took place after the football match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv that sparked international condemnation, the Dutch capital and its Jewish residents were still in shock.
In the Jodenbuurt, the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam, police officers stand guard near the Portuguese Synagogue and Jewish Historical Museum. While the community is remaining discreet this Saturday, an Amsterdam Jew, running a t-shirt stand at the neighborhood market, told AFP that he felt very bad since the violence on Thursday evening.
“I feel the shame that every Amsterdammer must feelbecause once again, as if history was repeating itself, Jews are attacked simply because they are Jewish,” laments the 58-year-old man who preferred to remain anonymous for his own safety.
Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were violently attacked by groups of individuals in the streets of the city on the night of Thursday to Friday after the Europa League match, in a context marked by the rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli acts around the world since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.
“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 far,” said Edit Tuboly, a 61-year-old woman interviewed in the aisles of the market, her arms full of bags.
The police reported five people briefly hospitalized and 63 arrestsand Israel organized emergency flights to repatriate its citizens. The Dutch government as well as the town hall strongly condemned the attacks, calling them anti-Semitic. Many foreign leaders, including the American Joe Biden, have also denounced them.
Amsterdam, “safe place”
Originally from Israel and living in Amsterdam for 34 years, the market trader himself attended, with a friend, the match which ended in a 5-0 victory for Ajax. “Even if there is a place for criticism of Israel’s side in this conflict [à Gaza]that is of course not the way to express it by attacking innocent people just because they come from somewhere,” he laments.
According to the trader, the atmosphere of the match was “fantastic” between the two groups of supporters. Nonetheless, he said he knows a friend who was attacked along with his 17-year-old son after the game.
The Dutch capital, nicknamed “Mokum” or “safe place” in Yiddishis historically considered as a refuge for the Jewish community. With the exception of the period of the Second World War, the figure of Anne Frank remained a symbol of the deportation of Jewish people. “Until now we thought that Amsterdam and the Netherlands were spared from this extreme violence against Jews,” explains the merchant, visibly moved.
Commemorations canceled
« Amsterdam should be ashamed of the pogrom perpetrated on the evening of Kristallnacht,” said the collective of Dutch Jewish organizations Centraal Joods Overleg, in a statement released Friday.
Joana Cavaco, 28, president of the Jewish anti-Zionist 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, the Maccabi supporters felt they had “carte blanche” and started the provocations as soon as they arrived. “We don’t feel safe because Israel dictates how the world perceives us, » she told AFP.
An evening commemorating Kristallnacht in Amsterdam, in which Erev Rav was going to participate, was canceled, and Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema on Friday banned all demonstrations for three days.
Friday evening passed peacefully and Saturday toothe atmosphere in the city was calm, noted AFP journalists. The city has implemented emergency measures. Security has been reinforced in sensitive locations and demonstrations are temporarily banned.
What we know
Supporters of the Israeli football club Maccabi Tel-Aviv were violently attacked by groups of individuals in the streets of Amsterdam on the night of Thursday to Friday, “dark” hours for the city, according to the mayor.
Here is what we know about the events that sparked outrage around the world, with US President Joe Biden calling them “anti-Semitic” and “despicable” violence. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its part, condemned “the anti-Arab chants by Israelis and the attack on the Palestinian flag in Amsterdam”.
Wednesday, tensions upstream
THE tensions were already at their height before the match Thursday evening of the Europa League between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel-Aviv (5-0). From Wednesday, isolated clashes took place between supporters of Ajax, Maccabi and the Turkish club Fenerbahce, which was playing against another Dutch club, AZ Alkmaar, according to Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla .
Maccabi supporters burn a Palestinian flag in the central Dam Square, says Mr. Holla, and vandalized a taxi. Taxi drivers mobilize to attack 400 Maccabi supporters at the Holland Casino. The police intervene and escort the supporters out of the casino, explains Mr. Holla.
A few isolated incidents took place around the casino, but according to the police chief, calm returned to the city around 3:30 a.m.
Thursday, before the match
A large group of Maccabi supporters gathered in Dam Square around 1 p.m. Thursday, according to the police chief. Some “incidents” take place and fireworks are set off. “In general, the police were able to keep large groups at bay,” says Peter Holla.
The police calmly escort a thousand supporters from the square to the central station. The authorities had moved a pro-Palestinian demonstration, but small groups broke away in search of clashes in the stadium areasays Mr. Holla.
In a video published on social networks, the origin of which could not be verified, what appear to be Maccabi fans chant in Hebrew “May the IDF (Israeli Army) win!” We’re going to fuck the Arabs! “. The police managed to keep the groups at bay thanks to riot police and mounted police.
The match took place in a generally calm atmosphere.. Some Israeli supporters do not respect the minute of silence in memory of the victims of the floods in Spain, a country which recently recognized the State of Palestine.
« After the match, the exit from the stadium went well. Around 11 p.m., the situation around the stadium was calm« , relate Peter Holla.
Attacks in the city center
After the match, groups of individuals attack Maccabi supporters before fleeing on a scooter between each attack, in several districts of the city. Five people were briefly hospitalized.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema spoke at a press conference of groups of individuals targeting supporters of the Israeli club, hitting and kicking them. “It’s an explosion of anti-Semitism that I hope to never see again,” said Ms. Halsema, who said she was “ashamed” of this violence..
Videos authenticated by AFP show groups of individuals tracking down Israeli supportersthrowing objects at them, hitting them and abusing them. Between 20 and 30 Maccabi fans suffer injuries. The violence has “deeply damaged” the city, says the mayor.
The police opened an investigation and called on the population to send them any video of the violence. Sixty-two arrests were made initially, and a 63rd was made after using imagesAmsterdam police spokesperson Marijke Stor told AFP. Four people, including two minors, remained in detention Saturday to be presented to a judge at the start of the week, the prosecution said.
Indignation
The violence in Amsterdam, where anti-Semitic attacks have increased since the start of the war in Gaza, has been condemned all over the world.
The Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, denounced an “anti-Semitic pogrom” which according to him echoes the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel. The mayor of Amsterdam said she “easily understands” the comparison with pogroms.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounced a “terrible anti-Semitic attack”. “I am deeply ashamed that this could happen in the Netherlands in 2024,” he said. Mr Schoof was criticized for not immediately leaving a European summit in Budapest to return to the Netherlands.
The Prime Minister “was too slow to realize the seriousness of the violence“wrote the right-wing daily De Telegraaf in an editorial. On Saturday, he announced that he was canceling his trip next week to the COP29 climate conference in Baku “due to the major social impact of the events of last Thursday evening in Amsterdam”.
