Police are currently on the lookout for 45 suspects in the riots that took place in Amsterdam after the Ajax vs Maccabi Tel Aviv match last Thursday. Nine of them have already been identified and arrested. They are still in custody, police said on Sunday.
There are images of 45 suspects, a police spokesman said. All 45 are suspected of serious violent offences. On Friday, police said 29 more suspects had come to their attention, including five people whose blurred images were shown earlier. They are believed to have committed the most serious violent offences. Two of those five surrendered and were arrested.
Unblurred pictures of the remaining three have been online since Friday evening. A police spokesman said images of the other suspects would be released soon. As with the previous five, these images will first be blurred. If this does not lead to an identification, they will be converted into images where the suspects can be seen more clearly.
On Thursday, there were numerous violent incidents in Amsterdam during the Ajax vs Maccabi Tel Aviv match. Israelis were harassed and attacked by small groups of rioters at various locations around the city. Anti-Semitic insults can be heard in videos of the incidents. Five people had to go to hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the attacks. However, there is also footage of Maccabi supporters provoking violence against local Amsterdam residents.
The following days have also been filled with riots, including the banned protests at Dam Square last Sunday and the Nieuw-West Amsterdam riots at 40-45 Plein Street on Monday.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said the local authorities had asked the National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism and Security (NCTV) to assess the security threat of the Ajax vs Maccabi Tel Aviv match and the Crystal Night celebrations taking place on the same night. According to the mayor, NCTV did not see any specific threat. An early police investigation showed that the riots were quickly organised on Telegram, Halsema claimed.
Last week, a court charged eight suspects who were arrested for the riots in Amsterdam on November 7-8.
Crisis in the Dutch Cabinet
The Dutch government has struggled to overcome a political crisis with great difficulty. The scandal caused by riots at a football match involving the Israeli club Maccabi almost led to the collapse of the ruling coalition.
After Arab communities attacked fans of the Israeli team, migrants and anti-Semitism became key issues on the local agenda. Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, which holds the majority of seats in parliament, blamed Moroccan nationals for the riots and suggested deporting them from the country, even if they have dual citizenship. According to the politician, “Moroccans want to destroy the Jews.” Wilders’ statements offended one of the leaders of the New Social Contract party, Moroccan-born Nora Achahbar. She called Wilders’ words racist and announced her resignation as secretary of state at the finance ministry. She also pointed out:
“The polarised sentiments of the past few weeks have had such an impact on me that I can no longer and do not want to effectively fulfil my position in this cabinet.”
As a result, the leaders of the four parties that make up the government coalition – the New Social Contract, the Freedom Party, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Farmer-Citizen Movement – had to take urgent action to keep Prime Minister Dick Schoof’s cabinet functioning. During an emergency meeting, the coalition decided to “continue to work together despite tense events.” Schoof rejected all accusations of racism and assured that his government “will be able to cope with the upheaval.”
Many experts believe that tensions in the political arena in the Netherlands will continue in the near future. If Achahbar is followed by her party supporters, a full-fledged government crisis will not be avoided. Analysts believe that internal strife in the coalition will increase as Wilders toughens his demands to introduce tough measures against migrants.
On the other hand, additional pressure on the cabinet is being exerted by the opposition led by the leader of the Labour Party, Frans Timmermans. He is sure that for the current Dutch leadership “racist statements are commonplace.” In parallel, the Dutch left intends to demand that the government speak out against the “genocide in Gaza” and condemn Israel for its military operations.
However, there are different perspectives on what is happening. Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister, reposted the post on X:
“Absolutely perfect illustration of what we enable with the way the media and the Western political class framed what happened in Amsterdam. There was a football match between Israel and France yesterday and this happened at the beginning of the match: a horde of Israeli supporters openly lynched some French supporters in the stands.
Macron himself was in attendance at the match to show his commitment to “fighting antisemitism” after Amsterdam… He made no public comment that I know of on these French supporters getting lynched in front of his eyes. And the police made no reported arrests. Had the reverse been the case, had this been some Israeli supporters getting lynched by a horde of French supporters, you can absolutely bet 100% that he (and all the French media) would have made a huge deal out of it.
You cannot overstate the absurdism of it: because we’ve so gaslighted ourselves around “antisemitism” and so distorted the meaning of it, Western countries would literally rather let our their own citizens get lynched on their own soil – in front of the president’s eyes (!) – than face accusations being “antisemitic” in their own definition of the term.”
