Amsterdam city council member says ‘Maccabi hooligans’ instigated violence and attacked Palestinian supporters.
Israeli football fans have clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League football match between their team Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam.
The clashes took place outside the Johan Cruyff Arena on Thursday night, the city’s main arena and Ajax Amsterdam’s home stadium, as well as in other areas. Ajax won the match 5-0 after leading 3-0 at halftime.
Reporting from Amsterdam, media’s Step Vaessen said the clashes were the result of a buildup in tensions over a few days.
“Hundreds of supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv came to Amsterdam, held a very vocal rally in the main square before the incident, waving Israeli flags, and also took down a Palestinian flag,” she said.
On Thursday, police had said on social media that they were being particularly vigilant in the wake of politically charged incidents, including the tearing down of a Palestinian flag from a building.
Social media videos captured the reported incident, showing Israeli fans shouting slogans while an individual was taking the flag down. Before the game, videos showed crowds of Maccabi supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans.
In one video, Israeli supporters were heard singing: “Let the IDF win, and f*** the Arabs!,” referring to the Israeli army’s offensive on Gaza. Another video captured a fan screaming: “F*** you terrorists, Sinwar die, everybody die,” in reference to the Hamas leader who was killed last month.
The Israeli fans instigated the violence after arriving in the city and attacking Palestinian supporters before the match, an Amsterdam city council member said.
“They began attacking houses of people in Amsterdam with Palestinian flags, so that’s actually where the violence started,” Councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen told media on Friday.
“As a reaction, Amsterdammers mobilised themselves and countered the attacks that started on Wednesday by the Maccabi hooligans.”
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