Israeli football hooligans tore down Palestine flags as they marched through Amsterdam in a Wednesday night of chaos ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv‘s visit to Ajax.
Videos show dozens of hooded figures dressed fully in black cheering and cnahting ‘f*** you Palestine’ and ‘ole’ as one climbed halfway up the front of a building and removed a flag on the Rokin, a major street.
Footage also shows one thug thumping a taxi with crowbar before the driver takes off, while there have been reported clashes between the visiting hooligans and cabbies.
Meanwhile, clips shared by a prominent pro-hooligan page depict bust-ups purported to be between Maccabi fans and a group of Moroccan Ajax supporters. The account has previously shared reliable information, such as when Manchester United fans were attacked by Fenerbahce ultras in Istanbul in October.
Amsterdam police have not made any arrests and have not confirmed that the perpetrators were definitely Maccabi fans despite the tensions in the city centre.
The police said they ‘prevented a confrontation between a group of taxi drivers and a group of visitors who came from the adjacent casino’.
Mail Sport was unable to find footage of drivers and fans clashing personally, though one source online describes a coalition of taxi and Uber motorists as ‘beating them out of the city’.
‘Intimidation and vandalism in our city: a Maccabi hooligan damages a taxi. This kind of violence against hard-working drivers is unacceptable. Time to make Amsterdam safe again,’ wrote one driver on X.
Neither Ajax nor Maccabi Tel Aviv have commented on the unrest ahead of their Europa League fixture on Thursday night.
Ajax are a club with strong Jewish roots. The majority of the Netherlands’ Jewish population lived in Amsterdam prior to the Second World War. Their old stadium used to be situated next to Amsterdam-Oost, a strongly Jewish-populated neighbourhood. Thoughout the 1960s and 1970s, multiple chairmen and players for the club were Jewish.
They have faced anti-Semitic chants in recent seasons. Vitesse apologised in 2021 after a group of their supporters started chanting ‘Hamas, Hamas, Jews on the gas’ prior to a match with Ajax.
Authorities in the Dutch capital have already banned a pro-Palestine rally which was planned to take place at Ajax’s Johan Cruyff Arena.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema told broadcaster AT5 that ‘violent confrontations are a realistic prospect’ and that police could not find a way to allow the demonstration to proceed safely at the ground.
However, the protestors, part of an event called Week4Palestine, have been given an alternative location to stage their rally on Anton de Koplein, just a few hundred metres from the ground.
The Week4Palestine protestors have agreed to the alternative location from 7pm, writing on Instagram: ‘We have no other choice.
It also appears that the activists retaliated against the Maccabi Tel Aviv troublemakers on Wednesday night.
One video posted on the Week4Palestine Instagram shows a man, puportedly an Israeli fan, staying afloat in the River Amstel, which threads through the city in a network of canals. It is not clear how he got there.
A voice shouts from the riverside: ‘Say free Palestine and we go.’ The man in the river follows the command.
It was captioned: ‘When the mayor does not fulfill her duties, the city’s residents will have to do it themselves!
‘Who’s street? Oh yeah, our street. A zionist got a free swimming lesson.’ The post was acompanied with a giggling face emoji.
The controversy in Amsterdam comes after Paris Saint-Germain fans were criticised for unveiling a gigantic ‘Free Palestine’ tifo in their Champions League match against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
The gigantic banner spread across thousands of seats in the Auteuil Kop at the Parcs des Princes, almost covering the stand from the bottom to the top. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau called it ‘unacceptable’ and PSG could now face sanctions. France face Israel in the Nations League next week.
The banner showed the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine at the Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is seen as a symbol of Palestinian identity and its name has been used by Hamas as justification of their attacks, as they believe Jewish people have threatened its sanctity.
There was also provocation last season when Fiorentina supporters waved Palestinian flags as they played Maccabi Haifa, another Israeli team, in the Europa Conference League.
Ajax have told their supporters to leave politics at home and do not want to see ‘flags of conflict areas or other political expressions’ at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
The Ajax Supporters Delegatie, a fan group, has also opposed the exhibition of political flags, threatening to ‘intervene’ if necessary.
They wrote: ‘There are fierce conflicts, wars and other terrible situations going on in the world. In the Johan Cruijff ArenA, however, it is about our club and our city and we strive for togetherness.
‘We therefore do not want to see flags from conflict zones and other political expressions during the Europa League match between our very own Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv FC.
‘Both inside and outside the stadium, we will not tolerate this and will intervene where necessary. Football is not politics.’
