Amsterdam bars Italian team’s fans from match, fearing repeat of antisemitic attacks
City says risk of racist incidents from Lazio Rome supporters — fined in the past for offensive behavior — is too high in aftermath of November 7 violence against Maccabi TA fans
The city of Amsterdam, still traumatized by widespread, coordinated violence against Israeli soccer fans following a match earlier this month, said on Tuesday that no traveling fans would be allowed at Ajax Amsterdam’s Europa League home game, on December 12, against Italian side Lazio.
“Supporters of Lazio Rome are not welcome in Amsterdam… The risk of extreme-right, antisemitic, racist expressions and disturbances is too high,” the municipality said in a statement.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured when Arab and Muslim gangs attacked Maccabi fans after a soccer match against Ajax Amsterdam on November 7. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted, beat, and harassed them.
Before the match, Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag, attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans, according to Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla. Footage of the incidents were widely circulated on social media.
Lazio has been fined in the past for racist or antisemitic behavior from some of their fans. In September, several of those were banned from attending their Europa League match against Dynamo Kyiv in Hamburg after German police seized weapons from them.
In March, an Italian fan was arrested in Munich for performing an Adolf Hitler salute before a Lazio match against Bayern Munich.
“Some supporters of Lazio are known for their extreme right and fascist sympathies as well as for their antisemitic and racist expressions,” the city of Amsterdam said.
“On Nov 7 & 8, Amsterdam was spooked by the fierce violent incidents surrounding the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer game… There’s no room for expressions of racism and fascism in Amsterdam.”
Contacted by Reuters, Lazio has not replied to a request for comment on the decision.
Violence against Jews persisted after the November 7 attacks, with anti-Israel protesters repeatedly demonstrating in violation of a temporary ban on protests, prompting some skirmishes with police. Days after November 7, dozens of rioters clashed with officers and set a tram car on fire while chanting antisemitic slogans.
Antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands have surged, as they have around the world, since the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which terrorists from the Gaza Strip invaded and killed some 1,200 people, took 251 hostages and triggered the ongoing war there.
