Pro-Palestinian protesters detained in Amsterdam after city banned demonstrations due to violence
Police detained several people Sunday for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed following violence targeting fans of an Israeli soccer club, a local broadcaster reported.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema banned all demonstrations over the weekend in the aftermath of the grim scenes of youths on scooters and on foot attacking Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters on Thursday and Friday in what was widely condemned as a violent outburst of antisemitism in the Dutch capital.
Israel's ambassador to the Netherlands said that 2,000 Israelis were brought home on special flights from Amsterdam over the past few days. The attacks left five Israeli soccer fans hospitalized, and came as anger grows over the war in the Gaza.
Before the match against Ajax, Maccabi fans staged a pro-Israel demonstration in central Amsterdam where they chanted anti-Arab slogans on their way to the stadium. There were also reports of Maccabi fans starting fights.
Video shows a group of fans chanting "Let the Israeli army win" and "**** the Arabs" while dressed in gear to support their team, CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reported. More footage shows the Palestinian flag being torn down from the second story of a building in the area where fans had gathered, by an individual who had climbed on top of the awning on the building's lower level to reach it.
In the aftermath of the violent attacks against Israeli soccer fans that followed, one man who had traveled to the Netherlands for the Maccabi match told CBS News: "It was very frightening. I saw people get beaten."
Video on local broadcaster AT5 showed police detaining one man Sunday who was taking part in a small demonstration on the central Dam Square. The protesters yelled slogans including "Free, free Palestine." AT5 reported that about 20 people were detained.
Amsterdam Municipality said on X that police had begun arresting demonstrators who refused to leave the square, which is in the heart of the city's downtown shopping area and close to the historic canal network.
Organizers of the protest went to court on Sunday morning seeking an injunction to allow the demonstration, but a judge upheld the ban imposed by the municipality.
At the hearing, senior Amsterdam police officer Olivier Dutilh said that there were again incidents overnight targeting people thought to be Jewish, including some being ordered out of taxis and others being asked to produce their passports to confirm their nationality.
Police launched a large-scale investigation Friday after gangs of youths conducted what Amsterdam's mayor called "hit and run" attacks on fans that were apparently inspired by calls on social media to target Jewish people. Five people were treated at hospitals and more than 60 suspects were arrested.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rushed to the Netherlands on Friday and offered Israel's help in the police investigation. He met on Saturday with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and said in a statement that the attacks and demands to show passports "were reminiscent of dark periods in history."
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the anti-Semitic attacks "are not only a threat to Israel, they endanger the entire world."
"We will never allow the horrors of history to repeat themselves. We will never give in - neither to anti-Semitism nor to terrorism," he said.
