A clearer picture is slowly emerging of the violence involving soccer fans in Amsterdam

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

A clearer picture is slowly emerging of the ********* involving soccer fans in Amsterdam

A week after ******** soccer fans were attacked in the streets of Amsterdam, triggering damning accusations of a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

in a city with an ugly history of antisemitism, a clearer picture of what happened that night is slowly emerging.

It suggests a far more nuanced take on events than Dutch authorities had initially indicated.

The ********* occurred before, during and after a match on Nov. 7 between ******** team Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local Amsterdam Ajax club. More than 2,800 ******** fans had travelled to the city for the game.

At a news conference on Nov. 8 after a night of *********, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema placed the blame squarely on locals, saying that “hateful, antisemitic rioters and ********** attacked and beat up *******, ******** visitors.”

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

what he called “unacceptable antisemitic attacks.” King Willem-Alexander said his country ******* Jews during the Second World War and had now “******* them again.” And ******** President Isaac Herzog called the ********* a “

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.”

******** Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters shout profanities as they go down an escalator in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 7, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video.

Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters shout profanities as they go down an escalator in Amsterdam on Nov. 7, in this screengrab taken from a social media video. More than 2,800 ******** fans travelled to the city for the game. (Michel Van Bergen via Reuters)

Sixty-two people were initially arrested and five were hospitalized. Dutch police said

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

since.

But a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

earlier this week, compiled with significant input from police investigators, indicates it was ******** fans who initiated the first attacks, which then spiralled.

The 10-page document addressed to council members says the first serious incident occurred around midnight on Wednesday, the night before the soccer match. It says 50 Maccabi fans pulled down a ************ flag from a building in the city’s centre. Some of those fans moved on to Amsterdam’s red-light district and attacked a taxi. Other taxis were vandalized by other ******** fans nearby.

The report indicates the taxi drivers then communicated with each other and mobilized as a group to confront about 400 Israelis, forcing police to keep the two groups apart.

‘Aggression’ from Maccabi fans, detractors before match

Exactly who took part in the confrontations with ******** fans has not been precisely spelled out.

The report acknowledges social media posts that many of those involved were young people of Moroccan descent, although it stops short of stating their ethnicity as a fact.

The document says city officials met the next morning and determined that the “aggression shown by Maccabi supporters and the reaction of the taxi drivers” was so concerning that there was a discussion about cancelling the upcoming match.

Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema attends a press conference following the ********* targeting fans of an ******** soccer team, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema is shown at a press conference on Nov. 8 following the *********, saying that ‘hateful, antisemitic rioters and **********’ attacked ******** soccer fans. But a report from her office this week indicates ******** fans initiated the attacks, which then spiralled. (Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters)

On Thursday afternoon, after it was decided to continue with the game, the tension between the two groups intensified.

A large group of ******** supporters set off fireworks in the city’s central Dam Square, and social media posts took on a “harsher” tone, with “antisemitic” terms appearing, the report says.

One widely shared video taken at some point after sunset shows a large group of Maccabi fans entering an Amsterdam metro station and shouting ******* slogans, including “Let the IDF [******* Defence Forces] win” and “F–k the ******.” The city report does not specifically mention the video or when it was taken.

Despite the worrisome buildup and tensions, over the next few hours, the Maccabi fans attended the game and then left the stadium with few incidents. But the trouble intensified afterward.

******** Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters demonstrate and light flares in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 7, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Michel Van Bergen/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT.

Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans are shown demonstrating and lighting flares in Amsterdam on Nov. 7, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. (Michel Van Bergen via Reuters)

The report says after they left the stadium, some Maccabi supporters with sticks committed acts of vandalism in and around the city centre.

Other groups (the report does not say precisely who) then engaged in “violent hit and run actions” targeting Israelis, including using mopeds and motorcycles.

In response, police gathered Maccabi supporters together at several locations for their own protection, and buses were arranged to return them to their hotels.

Police ban demonstrations

By then, the report says, *******’s ambassador to the Netherlands was fully engaged with Dutch authorities, saying the events in Amsterdam were generating anger in ******* and that senior members of the government were planning on coming to the country.

******** officials say many Maccabi fans were so afraid, they locked themselves in their hotel rooms, although police said when they came to investigate, they found few individuals outside who were posing a threat.

By Friday afternoon, many of the ******** fans who had initially come to the Netherlands had departed. Most of the rest were gone by Saturday morning.

Pro-************ protesters face Dutch police while taking part in a banned demonstration in Amsterdam, Netherlands November 10, 2024.

Dutch police face pro-************ protesters during a banned demonstration in Amsterdam on Sunday. Police say the ban, along with their increased presence, generally prevented further acts of ********* over the weekend. But several other apparent antisemitic incidents were cited in the city’s report. (Anthony Deutsch/Reuters)

Police say a ban on demonstrations, along with their increased presence, generally prevented further acts of ********* over the weekend. However, several other apparent antisemitic incidents occurred that were cited in the report. In one case, a Dutch taxi driver demanded a customer tell him whether he was ********. Another man was reportedly thrown out of a taxi because he was *******.

Police made a total of 62 arrests before, during and after the soccer game. Of those, 49 people were either Dutch or lived in the Netherlands, and 10 were ********. While nearly all were released, three of the four who were held in custody for longer were teenagers, and one was 26.

A woman wrapped in an ******* flag stands outside the place where mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema attends a press conference following the ********* targeting fans of an ******** soccer team, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024.

A woman wrapped in an ******** flag stands outside the building where the mayor’s press conference was taking place, in Amsterdam on Nov. 8. (Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters)

In the aftermath of the *********, Dutch authorities cancelled the annual ceremony to commemorate 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, the infamous night in November 1938 during which ***** rioters in several ******* and central ********* cities ransacked ******* homes, synagogues and businesses and terrorized ******* residents.

During the Second World War,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Antisemitism just 1 factor in *********, report says

The report appears to qualify the mayor’s initial statement that only “antisemitic” rioters were responsible for the *********. “The events of the past days stem from a toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism and anger about the conflicts in Palestine and *******,” it stated.

It also notes that “distressing” incidents occur regularly in the city, affecting “not only Jews but also increasingly Muslims, Palestinians and other ********* groups.”

Jazie Veldhuyzen, an Amsterdam city councillor, said it’s clear in hindsight that Dutch officials and politicians deliberately overreacted to the soccer ********* because it was useful to their respective political agendas.

“Basically everything that happened this week, including the riots, has been used by right-wing politicians — even our prime minister — to point the finger at migrants and blame them,” Veldhuyzen told CBC News in an interview.

In this image taken from video, a group of pro-************ protesters walk toward police line, with police vans driving in the background, near the soccer stadium in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (RTL Nieuws via AP)

In this image taken from video, pro-************ protesters walk toward a police line near the soccer stadium in Amsterdam on Nov. 7. (RTL Nieuws/The Associated Press)

His party, De Vonk, leans to the left, and he said that he personally supports ************ efforts to ****** the 57-year ******** occupation of ************ territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The head of the far-right Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders the largest party in the Dutch parliament, has been vocal about blaming the ********* on ******* Moroccans in the Netherlands, saying anyone found guilty should be deported.

In the aftermath of the soccer *********, Femke Halsema, Amsterdam’s mayor, survived a non-confidence vote initiated by right-wing parties.

“It wasn’t the case that people were specifically looking for Jews,” Veldhuyzen, the city councillor, said.

“People got attacked by Maccabi hooligans because they were mostly ******, and the counterattacks came as a result. But these [attacks] were directed at Maccabi fans specifically, and not at ******* people from Amsterdam,” he said.

Dutch ******* groups, however, dispute that interpretation of the city’s report.

Pro-************ protests have continued

“I think what happened … was already planned far in advance,” said Naomi Mestrum, director of the Center for Information and Documentation *******, a Dutch non-governmental organization that lobbies on behalf of *******.

“We already had reports coming in from taxi drivers last May where they were saying they were going to hunt for Zionists, that they didn’t want any Jews in their taxis and stuff like that,” she told CBC News.

“It’s been building up since last year — ever since Oct. 7 we’ve seen a huge increase in antisemitic incidents.”

Mestrum said ******** fans who misbehaved or were violent doesn’t change her belief that they were deliberately targeted.

A pro-************ protestor holds a ************ flag at a demonstration in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, despite a city ban on such gatherings. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

A demonstrator holds a ************ flag in Amsterdam on Wednesday, despite a ban on such gatherings after ********* between Dutch youth and ******** soccer fans late last week. (Bram Janssen/The Associated Press)

“Now we see the excuses — like they were chanting songs … and they pulled ************ flags from houses. All those things happened and they were disgusting, but it’s not an excuse to go **** hunting. It’s not an excuse to ask people who look Middle Eastern

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,” Mestrum said.

Since the events of a week ago, Dutch authorities have implemented a number of security measures to try to prevent a repeat of any ********* and to lower tensions.

Those measures included a ban on demonstrations — which was lifted on Thursday — but all week, pro-************ groups have come out into the streets anyway. On Wednesday night, more than 280 people were arrested.

******** officials have complained

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

relating to ********* directed at Maccabi fans over the last week.

WATCH | Dutch authorities arrest dozens, ban protests after ********* involving soccer fans:

Police say they are continuing to pore over security camera footage to try to identify those involved.

“We are preparing an independent investigation into the events of the past days, the preparations and actions of the authorities,” the city’s report said.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#clearer #picture #slowly #emerging #********* #involving #soccer #fans #Amsterdam

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up