EPAAn Israeli football fan has described being attacked by several men in overnight violence that Amsterdam police said involved young men on scooters carrying out “stabbing” attacks. then run away” is very difficult to prevent.
Adi Reuben, a 24-year-old Maccabi Tel Aviv fan who was visiting Amsterdam to watch the club’s Europa League match with Ajax, told the BBC that he was kicked to the floor by a group of youths. hotel.
He said more than 10 men came up to him and his friends and asked where they were from.
“They shouted ‘Jews, Jews, IDF, IDF,’” Mr. Reuben said, referring to the Israeli military.
“They started messing with me and I realized I had to run, but it was dark and I didn’t know where to go. I fell to the floor and 10 people were kicking me. They shouted ‘Palestine’.
“They kicked me to the floor for about a minute and then left, they weren’t afraid of anything.
“I realized I had blood all over my nose and my nose was broken and it was very painful.”
Mr. Reuben said he could not see clearly for about 30 minutes after the attack, but decided not to go to hospital in Amsterdam because he heard the taxi driver was involved in the violence.
Instead, he said he would fly to Israel on Friday afternoon on a flight organized by the Israeli government and would receive medical treatment there.
He added: “This was a specific attack that was organized in advance.
Pnina, another Maccabi Tel Aviv supporter, also told the Dutch media organization NOS that the violence against Israelis appeared to have been planned in advance.
“It looked like it was organized. There were a lot of people. They rushed at us… We hid in the hotel until it was safe to come out,” she said.
Esther Voet, editor-in-chief of a Jewish weekly in the Netherlands, lives in the city center and said she offered her home as a shelter to some Israeli fans after she saw the segment. Movie about violence.
“I told them this is the Jewish home and you are safe here,” she told Israeli public broadcaster Kann. “People were really scared. I never thought I would experience this in Amsterdam.”
Dutch police said Israeli fans had suffered “severe abuse” in “hit-and-run” attacks, many of which were carried out by young men on scooters.
Amsterdam Police Chief Peter Holla said it was difficult to prevent such attacks despite the police presence in the city center in large numbers. The force eventually decided to round up Maccabi supporters and protect them before transporting them out of the area by bus, he said.
He said five people were injured but have been discharged from the hospital and about 20 to 30 others had minor injuries.
Officials said the overnight attacks on Friday followed some tensions between Maccabi fans and residents in Amsterdam days earlier.
On Wednesday, Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag, police chief Holla said. Taxi drivers then went to the location where about 400 Maccabi fans had gathered but police took them out of the area. There were further clashes in Dam Square overnight into Thursday but police were mostly able to separate the groups.
On the Thursday night before the match, police accompanied pro-Palestinian protesters and largely managed to separate them from football fans – but were then unable to stop the evening’s attacks later.
“We’re looking back at 36 hours that really shocked me,” Holla said. Supporters from Israel have been attacked and some have been horribly abused.”
“I am particularly shocked by the fact that we have had one of the largest police actions and we have not been able to control or stop this violence.”
ReutersAmsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said “the war in the Middle East has threatened peace in our city” and there had been “terrible outbreaks of anti-Semitism”.
She said Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were not considered a violent threat and there was no animosity between them and fans of Dutch club Ajax.
“I understand that this reminds us of the pogroms and that this happened in Amsterdam is deplorable,” she said. Not only were people injured last night, but our city’s history was deeply damaged, and Jewish culture was also threatened.”
Some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have previously been involved in racist incidents in Israel, including swearing at the team’s Palestinian and Arab players, and are said to have put pressure on the team to expel them.
Fans of the team have also previously attacked protesters against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
When asked about the video showing Maccabi fans in Amsterdam chanting offensive slogans, Mayor Halsema said: “What happened last night has nothing to do with protesting. There is no reason for what happened.”
Additional reporting Shaina Oppenheimer in Jerusalem
