Amsterdam police expect to make more arrests after what authorities called “hateful antisemitic violence” against Israeli football fans, prosecutors said on Saturday.
Four suspects remained detained on Saturday on suspicion of violent acts, including two minors, and 40 people had been fined for public disturbance and 10 for offences including vandalism, prosecutors said.
Police said on Friday they had launched “a major investigation into multiple violent incidents” and that five were taken to hospital and 62 arrested. There was no evidence of “kidnappings or hostage takings”, but police were “probing reports”, they said.
Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, said: “Men on scooters crisscrossed the city looking for Israeli football fans. It was a hit-and-run. I can easily understand that this brings back memories of pogroms.”
She added: “Our city has been deeply damaged. Jewish culture has been deeply threatened. This is an outburst of antisemitism that I hope to never see again.”
The Dutch prime minister announced he had cancelled his trip to the Cop29 climate summit due to the events.
“I will not be going to Azerbaijan next week for the UN Climate Conference COP29. Due to the major social impact of the events of last Thursday night in Amsterdam, I will remain in the Netherlands,” Dick Schoof said on X on Saturday.
The Dutch climate Minister, Sophie Hermans, will still attend the 11-22 November environment meeting while a climate envoy will replace Schoof, the premier added, saying Thursday night’s violence in Amsterdam would be discussed at Monday’s cabinet meeting.
Antisemitic incidents have spiked in the Netherlands since Israel launched its latest attack on Gaza in response to Hamas’s surprise attack on 7 October. Several Jewish organisations and schools have reported threats and hate mail.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office described a “planned antisemitic attack against Israeli citizens” and asked that protection for the Dutch Jewish community increased. He even compared the incident to Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass,” a Nazi terror campaign perpetrated on Germany’s Jewish population in 1938 in which an estimated 91 Jews were murdered.
“Tomorrow, 86 years ago, was Kristallnacht – an attack on Jews, whatever Jews they are, on European soil. It’s back now – yesterday, we celebrated it on the streets of Amsterdam.”
The Amsterdam police chief, Peter Holla, said there had been “incidents on both sides”. A video on social media showed Maccabi fans setting off flares and chanting, “Olé, olé, let the IDF win, we will fuck the Arabs.” The police chief said a large crowd of Maccabi fans then gathered on Dam Square on Thursday lunchtime, where there were “fights on both sides”.
On Wednesday night, Maccabi fans stole a Palestinian flag from a building in the city centre and shouted, “fuck you, Palestine”. Holla said Maccabi supporters then vandalised a taxi.
The US president, Joe Biden, condemned the attacks on Thursday as “despicable” and said they “echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted”. UN secretary-general António Guterres was shocked by the violence in Amsterdam, a UN spokesperson said.