AMSTERDAM: Amsterdam banned demonstrations for three days starting Friday (Nov 8) after overnight attacks on Israeli soccer fans by what the mayor called “anti-Semitic hit-and-run squads,” and Israel said it would take to many fans home.

Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi fans had been “attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks” throughout the city, and that riot police intervened to protect them and escort them to hotels. At least five people were treated at the hospital.

Videos on social media showed riot police in action, with some attackers shouting anti-Israel insults. Some images also showed Maccabi Tel Aviv fans chanting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday night’s match.

“We saw a lot of demonstrations, a lot of people running. It was really scary,” said Joni Pogrebetsy, an Israeli soccer fan in Amsterdam for the match.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel was sending planes to the Netherlands to bring fans home.

Anti-Semitic incidents have increased in the Netherlands since Israel launched its attack on Gaza after the attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023, and many Jewish organizations and schools reported threats and hate mail.

Amsterdam banned demonstrations over the weekend and gave police emergency stop-and-search powers in response to unrest that exposed deep anger over the Gaza-Israel conflict.

More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed, another 102,000 wounded and millions displaced in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave, after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostages. according to Israel.

Halsema said the city’s police were caught off guard after security services did not flag the match against Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as a Jewish club, as high risk. “Anti-Semitic hit-and-run squads” managed to evade a force of about 200 officers, he said.

Security was tightened in the city, where a service at a Jewish monument was planned for Saturday. On Thursday, hundreds of people gathered to remember Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom against Jews across Germany on November 9-10, 1938.