Dutch Police Arrest Hundreds Of Protesters In Pro-Palestinian Protests

Illustration of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the Netherlands. (Wikimedia Commons/Scriptese)

Dutch police said they arrested more than 300 pro-Palestinian protesters who ignored the ban on demonstrations in Amsterdam on Sunday, detaining 50 people after clashes involving Israeli football fans last week.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at Dam Square in the capital, chanting "Free Palestine" and "Amsterdam says no genocide", referring to the war in the Gaza Strip.

After local courts ratified the city council ban, police moved, ordering protesters to leave and arrest more than 100 of them.

Police said they moved 340 people from the protest area by placing them on the bus and dropping them off on the outskirts of the city. A total of 50 other protesters were detained by the police.

A protester was forced to be taken by ambulance due to bleeding.

The ban, which was extended by authorities for four days until Thursday, has been in effect since Friday following attacks on Israeli football supporters after a football match between visitors Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam.

At least five people were injured in the attack denounced by Dutch authorities and foreign leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an antisemitic measure.

On Sunday, Israel urged its citizens to avoid attending cultural and sporting events abroad involving Israeli citizens over the coming week.

A statement issued by Netanyahu's office said Israel had intelligence on pro-Palestinian groups abroad intending to hurt Israelis in cities in the Netherlands, Britain, France, Belgium and others.

In the Netherlands, protest organizers said in a message on Instagram they were angered by the "creation" of riots around the match as an antisemit and called the ban on protests cruel.

"We reject the accusation of antisemitism being used as a weapon to suppress Palestinian resistance," they said.

Four people are still being held on suspicion of violence, including two minors. As many as 40 other people have been fined for disturbing public order and 10 people for offenses, including vandalism.

Police said the attack on Israeli fans visiting late Thursday, adding the fans burned Palestinian flags, using sticks, pipes and stones in clashes with opponents, as shown in the video footage.

In addition, the police said on Sunday they would investigate footage showing Maccabi fans using force, although a police spokesman could not immediately confirm which footage would be part of the investigation.

Separately, local police chief Olivier Dutilh told the court on Sunday the ban on protests was still needed as antisemites incidents continued, including people who were pushed out of the taxi and asked to show their passports on Saturday night.

It is known that the Netherlands has experienced an increase in antisemic incidents since the Gaza war began in October last year. Israel itself denies allegations of genocide in its attack for more than a year against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The latest conflict in Gaza, Palestine broke out on October 7, 2023, when a Palestinian militant group led by Hamas attacked Israel's southern region, killing about 1,200 people and holding 253 others hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Meanwhile, Gaza's health authorities on Sunday confirmed that the death toll from Palestine since the latest conflict in Gaza has risen to 43,603 fatalities, while 102,929 others were injured, the majority of the victims were women and children, quoted from WAFA.