Amsterdam riots against Jews

Amsterdam police were bracing for yet another night of unrest on Tuesday as the Dutch capital grapples with antisemitic violence that started with attacks against visiting Israeli football fans last week.

The Dutch capital was put under emergency measures last Friday, following the clashes that broke out after Thursday night’s soccer match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch side Ajax.

Most protests have been banned and police presence have been beefed up across the city, but the violence has not eased.

Amsterdam police chief Olivier Dutilh said his force was preparing for another turbulent night on Tuesday. “There are calls for similar situations in Amsterdam West this evening. It’s happening right now. There are calls: women and children stay at home. That worries us.”

Clashes erupted just after 7 p.m. on Monday in western Amsterdam, where a tram was set on fire, windows smashed and police officers pelted with stones.

Videos posted to social media show that people shouted antisemitic slurs as a firework was lit inside the tram, shattering a window and causing the vehicle to go up in flames. Three people were arrested, police said. One person in the group was injured by fireworks and treated at the scene.

Israeli fans were assaulted after a soccer game in Amsterdam by hordes of young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people, Dutch authorities said Friday. Five people were treated at hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe.

Reports of antisemitic speech, vandalism and violence have been on the rise in Europe since the start of the war in Gaza, and tensions mounted in Amsterdam ahead of Thursday night’s match between the Dutch team Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were banned by local authorities from gathering outside the stadium, and video showed a large crowd of Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans on their way to the game. Afterward, youths on scooters and on foot crisscrossed the city in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing quickly to evade police, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said.

On the social media platform Telegram, “there is talk of people going on a Jew hunt,” Halsema said. “That is so shocking and so despicable that I still cannot fathom it.” Dutch Minister of Justice and Security David van Weel vowed to track down and prosecute the perpetrators.

Five people were treated in the hospital and released, while some 20 to 30 people suffered light injuries, police said. At least 62 suspects were arrested, with 10 still in custody, the city’s public prosecutor, René de Beukelaer, told reporters at a news conference Friday.