Dutch police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters in Amsterdam on Sunday gathered despite a ban on demonstrations in the city, following the violent incidents that occurred three days ago during a match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
These arrests occurred after the Dutch justice confirmed the ban on the demonstration, imposed by the mayor of the city for Sunday.
Despite this ban, several hundred protesters went to Dam Square.with banners that read: “Give us back our streets” and “Free Palestine.
A ferocity that has raised a wave of indignation throughout the world. “Give us back our streets” or “Free Palestine”, were some of the posters hanging in Dam Square, after the Israeli embassy in The Hague inform “Israelis and Jews staying in Amsterdam to stay away from demonstrations.”
It is a climate that does not help calm tensions in a context of growing anti-Semitism, generated by the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas in Gaza, also in view of the match scheduled for Thursday in Paris between France and Israel, for the UEFA Nations League football.
A total of 4,000 police and gendarmes will be mobilized for the match at the Stadium de France announced the police prefect of Paris, where President Emmanuel Macron will also be present, while the Israeli government recommended its compatriots not to go to the stadium.
A call that extends to all sporting and cultural events abroad involving Israeli teams or artists. The National Security Council had already urged Israeli fans on Friday to avoid Maccabi Tel Aviv’s basketball game against Bologna, which ultimately took place without incident.
European governments do not hide that they are concerned about a new wave of violence linked to the war and after the events that occurred in the Dutch city. Some diplomatic sources cited by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz fear that other organized attacks will be carried out with the aim of harming Israelis or Jews during mass events.
For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there are no doubts. The night between last Thursday and Friday in Amsterdam was a “anti-Semitic attack which aims to leave the Jews and their country defenseless, to deprive them of the right to life itself.
A violent night in which three days later new details come to light. Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said there had been “incidents on both sides” since Wednesday night, when Maccabi fans tore a Palestinian flag from the facade of a building in the city center, shouted insulting epithets against Palestinians and then destroyed a taxi.
The Dutch prosecutor’s office then confirmed that 62 people were arrested on Thursday.both before and during the match that began at 8 p.m. local time. Among them, four remain detained, including two minors, “suspected of having openly used violence during the riots” and who must appear before the judge this week. Of the 62 detainees, “About 40” are suspected of public disorder and were fined and released.
Over the past year, the intelligence services of European countries have received dozens of warnings about attempted attacks against Israelis or Jews in their jurisdiction. Israeli intelligence agencies are collecting information about plans to attack Jewish institutions and Israeli embassies or offices and have helped thwart them in cooperation with the governments concerned.