The Dutch capital once again hit by violence. A tram caught fire this Monday evening in Amsterdam (Netherlands), four days after attacks by Israeli supporters on the sidelines of a European Football Cup match. “Since 7:15 p.m., a large group of people have caused nuisance, notably by throwing fireworks. Which caused the fire on a tram,” the Amsterdam police wrote on Monday evening on X (formerly Twitter). There are no victims.
According to the AP news agency, this violence was provoked by several dozen people equipped with sticks and firecrackers. Bricks were also thrown at the tram before it caught fire, according to unauthenticated videos posted on social networks.
The police, who visited the scene extensively, said around 11 p.m. that calm had returned and that an investigation had been opened “to determine those responsible for this violence” who remain unknown for the time being. Arrests, the number of which was not specified from an official source, also took place.
According to the Dutch newspaper Telegraaf, cars and bicycles were also vandalized. A man had his bike stolen and beaten before the police intervened, according to Dutch-speaking Belgian media Nieuwsblad. Some people, whose faces were covered, reportedly chanted slogans such as “Free Palestine”. According to videos circulating on unauthenticated networks, anti-Semitic insults were also chanted.
At the same time, a shooting, leaving one injured, broke out in another district of the city, the police added in another post. “A person was injured and taken to hospital,” local authorities said this Monday evening, adding that they had not “yet arrested a suspect.”
These new clashes come shortly after the attack on Israeli supporters Thursday evening in the center of Amsterdam. Between 20 and 30 people were injured after being attacked by groups of individuals who, according to Dutch police, had responded to a call to target Jews launched on social networks.
This Saturday, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Caspar Veldkamp, assured that a “thorough investigation will be carried out in the Netherlands”. Dutch police then reported five people briefly hospitalized and 62 arrests after the violence overnight from Thursday to Friday.
