Unrest in Amsterdam as further arrests made over Maccabi clashes

The city council will hold an emergency debate over violence around last week’s UEFA match featuring Israeli team.

Unrest continued overnight in Amsterdam as the Dutch police said they had made more arrests in connection with last week’s clashes involving Israeli football fans and pro-Palestinians.

Amsterdam’s city council is due to discuss the events, which authorities have branded “anti-Semitic”, on Tuesday. However, many reports have noted violence and provocation on the part of the visiting Israeli fans.

Police in the Netherlands capital reported late on Monday the arrest of five people in connection with the violence that flared around Thursday’s match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Dozens of people armed with sticks and firecrackers gathered in a suburb overnight on Monday, police said. Youths claiming solidarity with Palestinians set fire to a tram, smashed windows and yelled abusive language, according to Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from the city. The fire was quickly extinguished and riot police cleared the area.

The five people arrested were men aged between 18 and 37. Earlier, more than 60 people were arrested in connection with the violence that left five injured.

The latest arrests were made in connection with assault over the weekend, police said, adding more people could be rounded up.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters on Monday that the number of arrests made so far is “very low”. Israel has offered to help investigate the violence, which was preceded by Israeli fans, some of whom served in the army, chanting anti-Arab slogans and tearing down Palestinian flags.

Tensions have been running high for days following the clashes, Vaessen said.

“The arrival of more than 3,000 Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam last week was not considered high-risk by Dutch authorities, although one Jewish activist told police they are widely known for political violence in Israel and many serve as soldiers in Gaza,” she said.

Yuval Gal of the Erev Yav Jewish Collective said he, along with others, tried to explain to authorities that soldiers who served in the Gaza Strip had come to Amsterdam.

“For them, coming to Amsterdam was a little bit demonstration, a pro-Israeli demonstration. So it was not only about football,” he said.

A taxi driver told Al Jazeera that his car had been attacked as he was filming Maccabi fans. He said the police took no action when he reported the incident.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said the Israeli fans were subjected to “unadulterated anti-Semitic violence” and described those who attacked the Israelis as people “with a migration background”.

Mayor Femke Halsema has said “hit and run” attacks had been carried out against Israeli “guests in our city” and appeared to compare events to “pogroms” against Jews in European history.

However, footage circulating on social media shows Maccabi fans wielding scaffolding poles and throwing stones and planks of wood at police after the game.

An Amsterdam city council member told Al Jazeera that the Israeli fans had instigated the violence after arriving in the city and attacking Palestinian supporters before the match.

“They began attacking houses of people in Amsterdam with Palestinian flags, so that’s actually where the violence started,” Councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen said.

The city council is due to hold an emergency debate on Tuesday. Officials said they plan to present an overview of events to the council.

Following the unrest, Maccabi’s next match in European competition, against Turkey’s Besiktas, has been moved.

Citing security concerns, Turkey has said it will not host the November 28 tie. The match will now be played behind closed doors in Hungary, UEFA announced on Monday.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies