Amsterdam's 'dark night' of mayhem after Maccabi Tel Aviv fans involved in street clashes

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Dutch authorities on Friday promised a full-scale investigation into a “dark night” of violence, after waves of clashes provoked by incitement on both sides followed an Ajax vs Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League match, leading to dozens of arrests in Amsterdam.

A major police operation for the game on Thursday evening, taking place in the shadow of more than a year of conflict in Gaza, failed to contain trouble on the streets as Israeli fans reacted to groups carrying Palestinian flags away from the Johan Cruyff Arena venue, resulting in targeted attacks on Maccabi supporters hours after the match.

Trouble brewed from the night before when Maccabi fans engaged in acts of provocation. After arriving in Amsterdam for Thursday's game supporters of the Israeli club had removed a flag from a facade in the Rokin canal area. A taxi was also destroyed, while a Palestinian flag was set on fire in Dam Square. Videos also appeared online in which Israeli supporters sang racist songs about Palestinians.

Following the game on Thursday the football crowd returned to central Amsterdam, where groups of men were standing in wait outside the station to target the visiting Israelis. Videos shared on social media showed the scale of the violence, with Israeli fans being kicked, beaten unconscious and one struck by a car in what appeared to be a hit and run following the game.

Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, said the violence that saw more than 60 arrests went beyond all limits. She spoke on Friday at a press conference about the need to defend Amsterdam's security as an international city. “Amsterdam looks back on a jet-black night and it is still dark today,” she said.

“The war in the Middle East is now also threatening our city,” Ms Halsema added. “I am furious and express this on behalf of the city council and [police and prosecutors] in the strongest terms. There is fear, dismay, anger, disbelief.”

Israel sent commercial planes to the Netherlands on Friday to bring home its football fans after the events, which Israeli President Isaac Herzog compared to a pogrom and likened the violence to the Hamas-led attacks of October 7.

Supporters of the Israeli team clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after the game. Riot police intervened several times to protect the supporters and escort them back to their hotels. Another video appears to show a fan in a canal being made to say “free Palestine”.

Amsterdam’s acting police chief Peter Holla said the fans were “wilfully attacked”. “Despite the fact that we were maximally prepared, I am shocked by what happened last night,” said Mr Holla. “One of the largest operations ever could not prevent it.”

Police made 62 arrests linked to the violence, which saw five people taken to hospital. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said 10 citizens were injured.

The first flights arrived back in Israel on Friday with up to three extra services scheduled to depart. One fan waiting to check in described how the attacks on fellow supporters took place. “They were waited for at the exit of the metro station and were not allowed to pass through until they shouted ‘free Palestine’,” he said. “After that we had to run for our lives. All the scarves and anything else they had on were taken away.”

Passengers said had been were afraid to take taxis to the airport, some relied on volunteer drivers, and police escorted at least one convoy of buses. Dutch authorities have asked travel apps to provide information on the technology being used to search from Israeli telephone numbers.

“All the incidents that took place on Thursday night are unrelated [to Wednesday], but they also influenced each other,” said Mr Holla.

Ms Halsema said the police investigation showed that the riots were quickly organised on Telegram, adding that on group forums “there is talk of people going on a Jew hunt. That is so shocking and so despicable that I still cannot fathom it”.

“Understand that this reminds us of pogroms, and that this has happened in Amsterdam is reprehensible.”

With concern that anti-Semitism drove the riots, Mr Saar called the attack “a blaring alarm call for Europe and the world”.

“Freedom-loving countries, democracies, cannot allow unbridled hatred to roam the streets with impunity. As history has shown – what begins with persecution and violence against Jews never ends with the Jews,” he said.

Authorities have pledged to strengthen security at Jewish institutions. The city has a large Jewish community and was home to Jewish Second World War diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupiers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially ordered two military planes to fly to the Netherlands to rescue the football fans, but later cancelled the flights after consulting with Israel's military, saying it was decided that a “professional rescue mission to the Netherlands was not necessary”.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity and demands that the Dutch government and security forces take vigorous and swift action against the rioters, and ensure the safety of our citizens,” his office said.

Far-right politicians shared a series of tweets calling for action and blaming the violence on immigrants, with anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, head of the largest party in the Dutch government, saying he was “ashamed that this can happen in the Netherlands” and was due to meet Mr Saar plus the speaker of the Knesset.

Palestine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement through the news agency Wafa condemning “anti-Arab chants and the barbaric acts carried out by fans of an Israeli football club in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam”. It said there was desecration of Palestinian flags that symbolise support for Palestinian rights and a stance against the Gaza war.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof returned from a foreign trip and promised that those responsible for the attacks would be prosecuted.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was “outraged” by the “vile attacks”. “I strongly condemn these unacceptable acts,” Ms von der Leyen wrote on social media X after speaking with Mr Schoof. “Anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in Europe. And we are determined to fight all forms of hatred.”

The UN also said on Friday it was “deeply troubled” by the clashes. “We have seen these very troubling reports,” UN human rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence told a media briefing in Geneva. “Nobody, nobody should be subjected to discrimination or violence on the basis of their national, religious, ethnic or other origin.”

Planes sent to Amsterdam after violent clashes between protesters and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans – in pictures

The Gaza war has sparked protests in support of both sides across Europe and the US, and both Jews and Arabs have been attacked. In March, the opening of a new Holocaust museum in Amsterdam by Mr Herzog led to violent protests by pro-Palestine activists.

More than 43,500 Palestinians have been killed and 102,600 injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave. The Israeli army began its offensive in response to Hamas, after the Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage on October 7.