Amsterdam bans protests after ‘antisemitic squads’ attack Israeli soccer fans

(This Nov. 8 story has been refiled to add a dropped word in paragraph 9)

By Anthony Deutsch and Bart H. Meijer

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Amsterdam banned demonstrations for three days from Friday after overnight attacks on Israeli soccer supporters by what the mayor called “antisemitic hit-and-run squads”, and Israel sent planes to the Netherlands to fly fans home.

Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had been “attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks” around the city, and that riot police intervened to protect them and escort them to hotels. At least five people were treated in hospital.

Videos on social media showed riot police in action, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs. Footage also showed Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday evening’s match.

“We saw a lot of demonstrations, a lot of people running. It was really, really terrifying,” said Joni Pogrebetsy, an Israeli soccer fan in Amsterdam for the match.

Antisemitic incidents have surged in the Netherlands since Israel launched its assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza after the attacks on Israel by Hamas militants in October last year, with many Jewish organisations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government sent planes to the Netherlands to bring fans home, while foreign minister Gideon Saar flew to Amsterdam for impromptu meetings with the Dutch government and far-right leader Geert Wilders.

Amsterdam banned demonstrations through the weekend and gave police emergency stop-and-search powers in response to the unrest, which exposed deep anger over the Gaza-Israel conflict.

More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and millions displaced in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza, according to health officials there, launched after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage in the initial cross-border attack, according to Israel.

In Washington, U.S. President Biden condemned the attacks as “despicable” and said they “echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted”. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was shocked by the violence in Amsterdam, a U.N. spokesperson said.

SECURITY TIGHTENED

Mayor Halsema said police had been taken by surprise after security services failed to flag the match against Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as a Jewish club, as high-risk.

“Antisemitic hit-and-run squads” had managed to evade a force of around 200 officers, she said.

Security was tightened in the city, where a service was planned at a Jewish monument on Saturday to remember Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom against Jews across Germany on Nov. 9-10, 1938.

One video verified by Reuters showed a group of men running near Amsterdam central station, chasing and assaulting other men as police sirens sounded.

Another verified video showed Maccabi fans setting off flares and chanting “Ole, ole, let the IDF win, we will fuck the Arabs”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he was “horrified by the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli citizens” and had assured Netanyahu by phone that “the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted”.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who he said had “expressed deep horror and shock”.

Herzog quoted the king as saying the Netherlands had failed its Jewish community during World War Two – under Nazi occupation and persecution – and again on Thursday night.

Anti-Muslim politician Wilders, head of the largest party in the government, said he was “ashamed that this can happen in the Netherlands”. In a post on X, he blamed “criminal Muslims” and said they should be deported.

Police said there had been incidents before the game, for which 3,000 Maccabi supporters travelled to Amsterdam.

ISRAEL SAYS VIOLENCE RECALLS EUROPEAN POGROMS

The Israeli embassy in The Hague said mobs had chanted anti-Israel slogans and shared videos of their violence on social media, “kicking, beating, even running over Israeli citizens”.

“On the eve of Kristallnacht — when Jews in Nazi Germany faced brutal attacks — it is horrifying to witness antisemitic violence on the streets of Europe once again,” it said.

Police said 62 suspects had been detained after the game as pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to reach the Johan Cruyff Arena, even though the city had forbidden a protest there. Ten remained in custody on Friday.

They said fans had left the stadium without incident after the Europa League match, which Ajax won 5-0, but that clashes erupted overnight in the city centre.

Herzog was among senior Israeli politicians who said the violence recalled the attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen last year as well as attacks on European Jews in the pogroms of previous centuries.

“We see with horror this morning, the shocking images and videos that since October 7th, we had hoped never to see again: an anti-Semitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam,” he wrote on X.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said that the mass killing by Israeli forces in Gaza and lack of international intervention to stop it “is likely to lead to such spontaneous repercussions”.

“This emphasizes that stopping the genocide in Gaza is an essential part of respecting and protecting human rights, as well as ensuring regional and global security and peace,” he told Reuters.

The Gaza war has led to protests in support of both sides across Europe and the United States, and both Jews and Arabs have been attacked.