Dutch police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters in Amsterdam on Sunday despite a ban on demonstrations in the city, following violent incidents that occurred three days ago during a match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
These arrests occurred after the Dutch justice confirmed the ban on demonstrationimposed by the mayor of the city for Sunday.
Despite this prohibition several hundred protesters flocked to Dam Squarewith banners reading: “Give us back our streets” and “Free Palestine,” observed an AFP journalist.
Riot police intervened, arresting protesters shortly after the court’s decision to uphold the ban.
“The mayor correctly decided that there would be a ban on demonstrations in the city this weekend,” the Amsterdam court announced in X, adding that a request to overturn the ban had been rejected.
Dutch activist Frank van der Linde had announced his intention to demonstrate in Dam Square against the “genocide in Gaza” and also in defense of the “right to demonstrate”, as quoted by the ANP agency.
“This demonstration has nothing to do with anti-Semitism,” said Alexander van Stokkum, one of the participants. He explained that the purpose was to protest “against the Israeli hooligans who destroyed our city”he declared.
Israel’s embassy in The Hague on Sunday advised “Israelis and Jews in Amsterdam to stay away from demonstrations.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with Dutch police during a banned demonstration in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
On the night of Thursday to Friday, after the Europa League matchMaccabi Tel Aviv supporters were violently attacked in the streets of the city.
The incidents occurred in a context of increasing anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli acts since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.
