AMSTERDAM — Demonstrations banned in Amsterdam for three days Israeli fans beaten and injured Violent clashes broke out overnight in the city, which Dutch authorities condemned on Friday as antisemitic.

Dutch police said they had launched a major investigation into several incidents following Thursday night’s Europa League match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch team Ajax.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said criminals on scooters were searching the city for Maccabi fans with “hit-and-run” attacks. “This is a terrible moment for our city… I am deeply ashamed of the behavior shown last night,” he said at a news conference Friday.

Five injured Israeli football fans were released from hospital and another 20 to 30 suffered minor injuries, Amsterdam officials said Friday morning. In total, 63 people were arrested and 10 remained in custody, police said.

Amsterdam has implemented several additional security measures following Thursday’s unrest. According to Halsema, the ban on demonstrations in the city was implemented on Friday and will be valid for three days until Sunday. There will also be a strengthened police presence.

The mayor also announced that “clothing that covers the face” and “carrying objects” that could disrupt public order will also be banned.

The mayor added that he wants the city to be safe for Israeli football fans, safe for locals and “especially safe for our Jewish residents.”

Tensions were rising ahead of Thursday night’s match, with multiple social media videos showing Maccabi fans shouting anti-Arab slurs, praising Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and shouting “fuck the Arabs.” Other videos, apparently shot in Amsterdam, show men ripping Palestinian flags from buildings. It is not clear when these videos were shot.

Israel’s embassy in the US shared video of the violence on social media platform X, saying hundreds of Maccabi fans were “ambushed and attacked” following the match.

One video shows a man being kicked as he lies on the ground, while another video shows a man being shot by a man shouting “free Palestine” and “for the children, son of a bitch.” CNN has not yet been able to verify these videos.

Another video shows a man shouting “I’m not a Jew” as he is chased down the street, thrown to the ground and beaten.

Police said the atmosphere in the stadium was relatively calm after Ajax won the match 5-0 and fans left without incident, but there were several clashes in the city center throughout the night.

The mayor added: “There may be tensions, there are many demonstrations and protests and we are always prepared for those and of course they relate to the situation in the Middle East and the ongoing war. But what happened last night was not a protest… It was a crime .”

“There can be no excuse for the antisemitic behavior displayed last night by rioters who actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and attack them,” local officials in Amsterdam said in a statement on Friday. he said, adding that police intervened several times to protect fans and escort them to hotels.

Police had previously said they increased their presence in the city center on Wednesday night, citing “tensions” in various areas the day before the game.

On Wednesday, police “prevented a clash between a group of taxi drivers and a group of visitors from a neighboring casino,” the police told by unknown perpetrators.

On Thursday, pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to reach the Johan Cruyff stadium, but the municipality banned them from protesting there, Reuters reported.

Returning to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday evening, Israeli football fan Kobi Elyahu described the attacks on Israelis as “very scary” and “like the 1940s”. He described seeing people locking themselves in hotels to escape, people throwing water, and others “driving” and “stepping on” victims.

Most of the fans were subdued when they arrived in Tel Aviv. “This is not a pleasant experience, it’s a bad experience,” one man said. “We are going to Amsterdam for a holiday and a match. We never think such a situation will happen.” Some fans came to greet the returnees, chanting racist football slogans: “Let the IDF win, we’ll screw the Arabs. Ole, ole, ole. There are no schools in Gaza, there are no children left there.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof described the attacks as “terrible” and “appalling”.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

“There are always problems at football matches, and football matches involving the Israeli team also attract special attention from the police, but what happened last night is terrible, terrible,” he said, adding that he was “completely embarrassed”. He said it happened in the Netherlands.

“This is absolutely unacceptable. I am in close contact with all parties involved and I just spoke to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu on the phone to emphasize that the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted,” he said, adding: “Amsterdam is now calm once again.”

Netanyahu received a briefing from the country’s Foreign Ministry on Friday on efforts to repatriate Israeli citizens from Amsterdam. During the meeting, Netanyahu compared antisemitic attacks against Israeli football fans to Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass,” in 1938, when the Nazi regime attacked Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues and homes across Germany.

“Tomorrow, 86 years ago, was Kristallnacht, an attack on European soil against Jews, no matter what the Jews were. Now it is back; yesterday we celebrated it in the streets of Amsterdam. That is what happened. There is only one difference; According to the government statement, Netanyahu In the meantime, the Jewish state was established.

In a separate statement from his office, Netanyahu called on Dutch authorities to “act decisively and quickly against the rebels and ensure the peace of our citizens.” Israel also organized evacuation flights on commercial aircraft for some Israeli citizens.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar traveled to the Netherlands following the attacks, where he condemned them as “barbaric and anti-Semitic” and called them “a great alarm call for Europe and the world.”

Following a meeting with senior Dutch officials on Friday, Sa’ar stressed that Israel expects criminal proceedings to be opened against the perpetrators on Thursday. “We expect arrests, we expect heavy penalties,” Sa’ar said in his statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was shocked by the violence in Amsterdam and condemned all forms of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim bigotry, UN spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay said at a press conference on Friday.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said in a statement on Friday that it “condemned the anti-Arab chants of Israelis and the attacks on the symbolism of the Palestinian flag in Amsterdam” and called on the Dutch government to “protect Palestinians and Arabs in Israel”. Holland.”

The Palestine Football Federation also issued a statement saying it was “seriously concerned about the violent incidents taking place in Amsterdam”, accusing Maccabi Tel Aviv fans of “incitement to violence, anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia”.

Israel’s National Security Council urged citizens to avoid affiliated basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv’s game against Virtus Bologna in Italy on Friday night.

Israel’s foreign ministry is reviewing the security of Israelis living abroad and all future Israeli team sports events in Europe, including improving cooperation with local authorities, an Israeli official told CNN.

Following the Amsterdam incident, some people in France called for the venue of next week’s match between the French and Israeli national football teams to be changed.

CNN’s Matthew Chance, Kareem Khadder, Niamh Kennedy and Lauren Izso contributed to this report.

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