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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dutch police said they took away more than 300 pro-Palestinian protesters who ignored a ban on demonstrations in Amsterdam on Sunday and detained 50 more following clashes involving Israeli soccer fans last week.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the capital's Dam Square, chanting "Free Palestine" and "Amsterdam says no to genocide", about the Gaza war.
Israel denies allegations of genocide in its more than year-long offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas.
After a local court ratified the city council's ban, police moved in, instructing protesters to leave and rounding up more than 100 of them.
Police said they removed 340 people from the protest area by putting them on buses and dropping them off on the outskirts of the city. Another 50 protesters were detained by the police.
One protester was taken to an ambulance due to bleeding.
The ban, which authorities extended for another four days until Thursday, has been in place since Friday after attacks on Israeli soccer supporters following a soccer match between visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam.
At least five people were injured in assaults that Dutch authorities and foreign leaders including Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced as antisemitic.
However, local media reports suggest that the incident was triggered by the actions of supporters of the Israeli soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv who tore down Palestinian flags and attacked several Moroccan taxi drivers in Amsterdam before the match.
On their way to the stadium, these Israeli soccer hooligans even shouted, "There are no schools in Gaza because there are no children left."
This sparked anger among local residents, especially those of Arab and Moroccan descent.
A police report stated that Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag at Dam Square, took down another flag from a nearby building, and damaged a taxi.
After a call on social media, angry Muslim taxi drivers came together outside a casino where 400 Maccabi supporters were gathered, and police intervened in skirmishes.
Some Dutch media have reported that social media videos from Wednesday show the beating of a Muslim taxi driver and youths yelling antisemitic slurs at a Maccabi supporter who was pushed into a canal.
Reuters was unable to verify those descriptions of the scenes.
On the day of the game, Maccabi supporters were filmed chanting anti-Arab slogans in front of the National Monument on Amsterdam's central Dam square, including "Fuck you Palestine", in videos verified by Reuters. Police maintained perimeters but fights erupted around the city outskirts.
Israel urged its citizens to avoid attending cultural and sporting events abroad involving Israeli citizens in the coming week. A statement issued by Netanyahu's office claimed that Israel had intelligence information that pro-Palestine groups abroad were targeting Israeli citizens in cities in the Netherlands, England, France, Belgium, and others.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron's office announced that he would attend the France-Israel match at Stade de France on Thursday to promote "fraternity and solidarity" following the events in Amsterdam.
DETENTION
Pro-Palestinian protesters face Dutch police while taking part in a non-authorized protest in Amsterdam, Netherlands November 10, 2024. REUTERS/Anthony Deutsch
In the Netherlands, protest organizers said in a message on Instagram that they were outraged by the "framing" of unrest around the match as antisemitic and called the protest ban draconian.
"We refuse to let the charge of antisemitism be weaponized to suppress Palestinian resistance," they said.
Four people remain detained on suspicion of violent acts, including two minors. Another 40 people have been fined for public disturbance and 10 for offenses including vandalism.
Police said that hit-and-run actions were held against visiting Israeli fans Thursday night, adding that the fans on their part burned a Palestinian flag and used sticks, pipes, and rocks in clashes with opponents, as video footage also shows.
Police said on Sunday that they would also investigate footage showing Maccabi fans using violence, though a police spokesperson could not immediately confirm which footage exactly would be part of the investigation.
Local police chief Olivier Dutilh told the court on Sunday that the protest ban was still needed as antisemitic incidents were continuing, including people being pushed out of taxis and told to show their passports on Saturday night.
Among those detained was Jazie Veldhuyzen, a senior member of the Amsterdam City Council. Speaking to Anadolu, Veldhuyzen said the group of Palestinian supporters chose to protest the ban, the government’s and police’s alleged permission for Maccabi supporters to attack local residents, and the Netherlands' “complicity” in what they termed as genocide.
Dutch authorities acknowledge the anger over the Gaza war but see no reason to cancel the match.
Ajax has strong Jewish associations, and fans sometimes carry Star of David flags to matches; it also has many Muslim supporters.
Less than 1% of Amsterdam's population is Jewish following the Holocaust, while around 15% is Muslim, mostly second and first-generation immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East.
Over 43,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military attacks in Gaza, according to local health officials, and most of the enclave has been destroyed. Israel launched its attacks after Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped over 250 people in cross-border attacks, according to Israel.
REUTERS | ANADOLU
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