Dutch police detain 6 people defying Amsterdam protest ban

This content was published on November 12, 2024 - 16:45

1 minute

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch police detained several people in Amsterdam on Tuesday who were holding up white banners in front of city hall, defying a ban on protests imposed after violence between locals and Israeli soccer fans last week, a Reuters witness said.

A police spokesperson confirmed media reports that six people had been detained.

Tensions remain high in Amsterdam since violent clashes before and after a soccer match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and local team Ajax on Thursday.

Police have said visiting Israeli fans were targeted in hit-and-run attacks on Thursday night, adding that the fans, for their part, had burned a Palestinian flag and used sticks, pipes and rocks in clashes, as video footage verified by Reuters showed. Verified footage also showed the fans chanting anti-Arab slogans.

At least five people were injured in assaults that Dutch authorities and foreign leaders including Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced as antisemitic.

Following the violence, local authorities imposed a protest ban until Thursday morning.

On Monday evening, riot police arrested several people after a tram at a square in west Amsterdam caught fire, likely as a result of having fireworks thrown at it. No one was hurt, though the windows of the tram were shattered.

(Reporting by Esther Verkaik, Writing by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Alex Richardson)