Amsterdam police break up banned pro-Palestinian rally

Riot police and protesters clashed on Amsterdam's central Damrak, or Dam Square, on Sunday, as police moved to break up a pro-Palestinian demonstration that took place in spite of a temporary ban on such protests.

More than 50 people were arrested, the Amsterdam Police Unit said on social media.

The prohibition on protests was imposed after clashes earlier in the week between locals and traveling Israeli football supporters. 

Hundreds of demonstrators defied the controversial measure, which a local court had upheld in an emergency hearing earlier in the day, chanting demands for an end to the war in Gaza and slogans including "Free Palestine." 

At one point, just before police started to move to disperse the crowd, the demonstrators could be heard chanting "shame on you" in English in the officers' direction. 

Several people could be seen being detained, some of them being forcibly restrained by officers. 

Clashes earlier in week set process in motion

A three-day ban on pro-Palestinian protests was first imposed on Friday, after attacks on Israeli football supporters following the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam on Thursday evening. 

Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said tensions had already started building ahead of the match, when Maccabi fans burned a Palestinian flag on the same Dam Square and vandalized a taxi. Social media videos, some of which have been verified, showed Israeli fans engaging in other acts of provocation, chanting "Death to the Arabs" and "Let the IDF win," referring to the Israeli military.

While the atmosphere during the match was largely peaceful and was praised by stadium officials, tensions again flared after the game. 

At least five people were injured in the early hours of Friday morning as Israeli fans were assaulted by what the city's mayor Femke Halsema described as "antisemitic hit-and-run squads." Police said the attackers appeared to have been mobilized by calls on social media to target Jewish people in the aftermath of the game.

The case quickly drew attention in Israel, with strong words of criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who directly mentioned the proximity of the date to the anniversary of the November pogroms in Nazi Germany in 1938.

"Yesterday we marked Kristallnacht, which occurred 86 years ago in Europe," Netanyahu said in a statement on Sunday. "It was a brutal and violent assault against Jews just because they were Jews. Unfortunately, in recent days we saw pictures that recalled that night. On the streets of Amsterdam, antisemitic rioters attacked Jews, Israeli citizens, just because they were Jews."

Prime Minister Dirk Schoof announced he was delaying his plans to travel to the COP29 climate summit to stay in the Netherlands to deal with the situation.

Meanwhile, earlier on Sunday, Maccabi fans were greeted with cheers and Israeli flags on their return to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.

Israeli authorities issue warning over upcoming Paris match

In the wake of the violence in Amsterdam, Israeli authorities on Sunday issued a warning over an upcoming soccer match between France and Israel in Paris.

Israel's National Security Council urged Israeli fans to "avoid attending sports games/cultural events involving Israelis, with an emphasis on the upcoming match of the Israeli national team in Paris."

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said authorities "won't tolerate" any violence at the match.

"There's a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us," Nunez told French news broadcaster BFM TV.

zc, msh/nm (AFP, Reuters)