November 13 – Dutch police say they have arrested five more people for their suspected involvement in the attacks on Israeli fans last week which authorities have condemned as antisemitic.
The suspects are men aged 18 to 37 and living in the Netherlands. Previously, 63 suspects had been arrested.
The assaults took place before and after the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv Europe league game and made global headlines.
Unrest flared up again in the city on Monday evening when an empty tram and a police car were set alight. Some rioters reportedly shouted ‘Free Palestine’, according to Dutch reports.
Prime Minister Dick Schoof has repeated his stance that “antisemitic attacks against Israelis and Jews” were “nothing short of shocking and reprehensible”.
Demonstrations have been temporarily banned in Amsterdam until Thursday, although a pro-Palestinian protest has been allowed to go ahead in a park away from the centre.
Schoof also commented on reports that Maccabi supporters had attacked a taxi and burnt a Palestinian flag in Amsterdam, as well as chanting anti-Arab slogans.
“We are well aware of what happened earlier with Maccabi supporters but we think that’s of a different category and we condemn any violence as well, but that is no excuse whatsoever for what happened later on that night in the attacks on Jews in Amsterdam,” he said.
Reports of antisemitic incidents in Europe have risen since the start of the war on Gaza but the broader ban on pro-Palestinian protests in the Netherlands has angered activists, with some arguing they should be free to voice their disapproval of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the actions of the Maccabi supporters.
Nevertheless the violence in Amsterdam was condemned by leaders across the western world, with many noting that three-quarters of Jewish people living in the Netherlands at the time were executed during the Holocaust in World War Two.
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