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Violence broke out in Amsterdam on Thursday following a football match between Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and the hosts Ajax. Dutch police said they arrested 62 people in connection over the unrest, which left between 20 and 30 supporters of the Israeli team injured.
Israeli football supporters and Dutch youth clashed in Amsterdam last week. (Reuters)
Newly appointed Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters in Jerusalem Monday that Israel deemed the number of arrests over clashes in Amsterdam last week “very low”.
“I was informed by the mayor of Amsterdam that they formed a special inquiry team, but I can tell that until now, the number of arrests is very low,” Saar said.
Israel had offered to help investigate the violence that broke out in Amsterdam on Thursday following a football match between Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and the hosts Ajax.
Dutch police said they arrested 62 people in connection over the unrest, which left between 20 and 30 supporters of the Israeli team injured.
The police said they had been chased by groups of people who had answered online calls to target Jews.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema said gangs on scooters targeted fans of the Israeli club, beating and kicking them in “hit-and-run” attacks.
The Dutch city’s police chief said there had been “incidents on both sides” on Wednesday, 24 hours before the match.
“A Palestinian flag was set on fire on the Dam,” he added, referring to Amsterdam’s central square.
In scenes that showed the tensions, unverified video on social media purportedly filmed on Thursday appeared to show some Maccabi fans chanting in Hebrew: “Let the IDF (army) win! We’ll fuck the Arabs!”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
