In Amsterdam, police began detaining pro-Palestinian demonstrators who gathered on Dam Square on Sunday in defiance of the authorities’ ban on holding protests this weekend, the city’s mayor’s office said.
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Dozens of people gathered at Amsterdam’s Dam Square on Sunday for a pro-Palestinian demonstration, despite a ban on protests this weekend. The police began to push the protesters out of the square.
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“Demonstration on Dam Square is prohibited. A ban on demonstrations is in effect. Demonstrators were asked to leave the square. The police began making arrests,” the Amsterdam mayor’s office said in a statement on the social network X.
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Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema previously announced a ban on demonstrations this weekend and the introduction of additional measures in the city following the attack on Israeli football fans on Thursday.
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A series of attacks on fans of the Israeli football club Maccabi occurred in Amsterdam on the night of November 8 after a Europa League match against local Ajax. At least ten Israelis were injured in the attacks, according to media reports. In addition, riots and clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and police occurred in different parts of Amsterdam, including at the Amsterdam Arena stadium, where the match was held, despite the city mayor’s ban on holding a demonstration there.
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As a result of the unrest, five victims were hospitalized and 62 people were detained.
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Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schof called the attacks on Israeli fans unacceptable, noting their anti-Semitic nature. The leader of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), part of the ruling coalition in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders called for the arrest and deportation of those responsible. The Amsterdam mayor’s office promised to strengthen the security of Jewish institutions in the city in connection with the incident.
