Police detained dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Amsterdam Sunday after hundreds gathered in Dam Square, defying a temporary ban on public protests imposed following attacks on Israeli football fans earlier in the week.
The protest ban, announced Friday by Mayor Femke Halsema, came after what authorities described as antisemitic “hit-and-run” attacks Thursday night that left five people hospitalized following a match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. The violence, which resulted in 62 arrests, drew condemnation from European, U.S., and Israeli leaders, particularly as it occurred on the eve of Kristallnacht commemorations.
“This protest has nothing to do with antisemitism,” demonstrator Alexander van Stokkum told AFP. “It is against Israeli hooligans who were destroying our city.” Other protesters told Reuters they “refuse to let the charge of antisemitism be weaponised to suppress Palestinian resistance.”
Activist Frank van der Linde’s urgent request for a protest permit was rejected by Amsterdam’s district court, which upheld the mayor’s authority to declare the city a “high-risk security area” through the weekend. De Telegraaf reported van der Linde was among those arrested.
Police Chief Peter Holla noted there had been incidents “on both sides” before Thursday’s match, including Israeli supporters burning a Palestinian flag and attacking a taxi. The violence has prompted Israel’s National Security Council to warn citizens abroad to avoid public demonstrations and conceal “anything that could identify you as Israeli/Jewish.”
The incidents carry particular weight in the Netherlands, where three-quarters of Jewish people were murdered during the Holocaust. The Israeli embassy warned its citizens to avoid Dam Square Sunday, citing risks of “significant violent incidents.”
French authorities have pledged 4,000 officers for security at Thursday’s Nations League match between France and Israel in Paris, as similar concerns spread across European capitals.
bbc.com
