281 detained at pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest for defying Amsterdam ban
Demonstrators chant ‘Amsterdam is saying no to genocide’ and ‘Free Palestine,’ days after Israeli soccer fans in the Dutch city were hunted down by gangs of masked assailants
Dutch police detained 281 anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters rallying in central Amsterdam on Wednesday in defiance of a ban imposed after violence against Israeli soccer fans last week.
Dozens of demonstrators, some with Palestinian flags, chanted “Amsterdam is saying no to genocide” and “Free Palestine.”
Police in riot gear encircled the group and they were detained and put on buses.
Dutch authorities said later Thursday they were investigating reports of police violence against the protesters. Online footage seemed to show police officers beating protesters who had already been released after being taken away from the site of the protest.
Violence erupted in the Dutch capital before and after last Thursday’s soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, with Israeli fans hunted down and attacked by gangs of masked assailants.
Police with expanded stop-and-search powers in the Dutch capital have detained or removed hundreds of demonstrators since last week’s clashes under emergency measures imposed until Thursday.
“We say: Free Palestine. Stop killing innocent people. Stop killing the children,” said demonstrator Max van den Berg, 32, calling on the Netherlands to halt its support for Israel.
Omg, not again. Make it stop. This is getting ridiculous.
Yet another pro-Palestinian protest is happening tonight in Amsterdam, despite the protest ban in place. pic.twitter.com/Xi6peypphk
— DutchLGB (@DutchLGB) November 13, 2024
The Netherlands has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents since the Gaza war began in October last year when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a massive cross-border attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 42,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Amsterdam’s police department said Maccabi fans were chased down and beaten by anti-Israeli gangs on scooters after an online appeal to taxi drivers. It said five people were treated for injuries and released from hospitals. The police also said Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag before the match.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the attacks and hundreds had to flee The Netherlands on special flights after being forced to huddle in their hotels for hours amid complaints of weak police protection. Many Israelis said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as they were ambushed by local Arab and Muslim gangs who hunted, beat and harassed them.
Israeli and Dutch politicians have denounced the attacks as antisemitic and recalled the persecution of Jews during World War Two. Pro-Palestinians countered that they responded to an attack by the Maccabi supporters and provocative anti-Arab chants.
Four out of 62 suspects detained during the violence, which included 10 Israelis, remain in custody. Police are still looking for suspects.
Less than one percent 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.
Additional arrests were made during rioting on Monday night in the predominantly immigrant neighborhood of West Amsterdam where Moroccan-Dutch youths sympathize with Palestinians in Gaza.
