AMSTERDAM — Amsterdam banned demonstrations for three days afterwards Israeli soccer fans were beaten and injured in violent clashes in the city overnight, which Dutch authorities condemned as anti-Semitic on Friday.

Dutch police said they had launched a major investigation into several incidents following Thursday night’s Europa League soccer match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch side Ajax.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said thugs on scooters scoured the city looking for Maccabi supporters in hit-and-run attacks. “This is a terrible time for our city … I am deeply ashamed of the behavior that was displayed last night,” she said at a news conference on Friday.

Authorities in Amsterdam said Friday morning that five injured Israeli soccer fans have since been released from hospital, and another 20 to 30 people were slightly injured. A total of 63 people have been arrested and 10 remain in custody, police said.

Amsterdam has implemented several additional security measures following Thursday’s unrest. A ban on demonstrations in the city was put in place on Friday and will be in effect for three days until Sunday, according to Halsema. The police presence will also be strengthened.

The mayor also announced a ban on “clothing covering the face” and “carrying objects” that could lead to public order disturbances.

The mayor added that he wants the city to be safe for Israeli soccer fans, safe for locals and “especially safe for our Jewish residents.”

Tensions had risen ahead of Thursday night’s match, with several videos on social media showing Maccabi fans chanting anti-Arab slurs, praising Israeli military strikes in Gaza and shouting “to hell with the Arabs”. Other videos apparently filmed in Amsterdam show men ripping Palestinian flags from buildings. It is unclear when those videos were shot.

After the match, hundreds of Maccabi fans “were ambushed and attacked,” Israel’s embassy in the United States said on social media platform X, sharing a video of the violence.

One video shows a man being kicked as he lies on the ground, while another video shows a man being kicked by a man shouting “free Palestine” and “for the children, you bastard”. CNN has not yet been able to verify these videos.

Another video shows a man shouting “I’m not Jewish” as he is chased down the street, thrown to the ground and beaten.

Police said the atmosphere at the stadium was relatively calm and fans left without incident after Ajax won the game 5-0, but various clashes were reported in the city center overnight.

The mayor added: “There can be tensions, there are many demonstrations and protests and we are always prepared for them and of course they are related to the situation in the Middle East and the ongoing war. But what happened last night was not a protest… It was murder.”

“There is no excuse for the anti-Semitic behavior displayed last night by the rioters who actively sought out Israeli supporters to attack and assault them,” local authorities in Amsterdam said on Friday, adding that police intervened several times to protect them on the fans and you have the escort to the hotels.

Police previously said they had increased their presence in the city center on Wednesday night, citing “tensions” in several areas, a day before the match.

Officers “prevented a confrontation between a group of taxi drivers and a group of visitors coming from the adjacent casino” on Wednesday, police said in a statement to X, citing another incident in which a Palestinian flag was torn down in the center of Amsterdam. by unknown authors.

On Thursday, pro-Palestinian demonstrators tried to reach the Johan Cruyff stadium, although the city banned them from protesting there, Reuters reported.

Kobi Elyahu, an Israeli soccer fan who returned to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Friday night, described the attacks against Israelis as “very scary” and “like the 1940s.” He described seeing people locked in hotels to escape, people throwing water and others “driving” and “trampling” victims.

Most fans were humbled upon their arrival in Tel Aviv. “It’s not a nice experience – it’s a bad experience,” one man said. “We’re going to Amsterdam for a holiday and a game. We never thought it would be this situation.” Some fans showed up to greet the returnees, shouting racist football chants: “Let the IDF win, we’ll f*** the Arabs. Oh, oh, oh. There is no school in Gaza, there are no more children there.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof described the attacks as “terrible” and “horrible” as he spoke to journalists on Friday.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

“There are always problems around football matches, and football matches involving the Israeli team also have special attention from the police, but the things that happened last night are just terrible, terrible,” he said , before adding that he was “completely ashamed” that this had happened in the Netherlands.

“This is completely unacceptable. I am in close contact with all parties involved and have just spoken to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu on the phone to stress that those responsible will be identified and prosecuted,” he said, adding: “The situation in Amsterdam is now calm from new.”

Netanyahu received a briefing from the country’s Foreign Ministry on Friday about efforts to return Israeli citizens from Amsterdam. During the meeting, Netanyahu compared anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans to Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass,” when the Nazi regime attacked Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues and homes across Germany in 1938.

“86 years ago tomorrow was Kristallnacht – an attack on Jews, any Jews, on European soil. It’s back now – yesterday we celebrated it in the streets of Amsterdam. That’s what happened. There’s only one difference “In the meantime, the Jewish state has been established. We must deal with it,” Netanyahu said, according to a government statement.

In a separate statement from his office, Netanyahu called on Dutch authorities to “act firmly and swiftly against the rioters and ensure the peace of our citizens.” Israel also organized evacuation flights on commercial planes for some Israeli citizens.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar traveled to the Netherlands following the attacks, which he condemned as “barbaric and anti-Semitic” and called “a shrill wake-up call for Europe and the world”.

Following a meeting with top Dutch officials on Friday, Sa’ar stressed that Israel expects criminal proceedings against the perpetrators on Thursday. “We expect arrests, we expect severe punishment,” Sa’ar said in a statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed shock at the violence in Amsterdam, adding that he condemns all forms of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bigotry, UN spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay said during a press briefing on Friday.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said in a statement on Friday that it “condemns the Israelis’ anti-Arab chants and attacks on the symbolism of the Palestinian flag in Amsterdam” and also called on the Dutch government to “protect Palestinians and Arabs in the Netherlands.”

The Palestine Football Association also issued a statement saying it was “deeply concerned by the sequence of violent events in Amsterdam”, accusing Maccabi Tel Aviv fans of “inciting violence, anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia”.

Israel’s National Security Council has urged citizens to avoid the Maccabi Tel Aviv affiliate basketball team’s game against Virtus Bologna in Italy on Friday night.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry is reviewing security for Israelis living abroad and for all future Israeli team sports events in Europe, including strengthening cooperation with local authorities, an Israeli official told CNN.

Following the incident in Amsterdam, some people in France called for next week’s match between the national football teams of France and Israel to be moved.

CNN’s Matthew Chance, Kareem Khadder, Niamh Kennedy and Lauren Izso contributed to this report.

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