Amsterdam banned protests for three days from Friday and gave police emergency stop-and-search powers after overnight attacks on Israeli soccer fans, while the government in Tel Aviv said it would take many fans home.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were “attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks” by what she described as “anti-Semitic hit-and-run squads”, and that riot police had to intervene several times to protect them and escort them to hotels.

Israel was sending commercial planes to the Netherlands on Friday to bring home Israeli soccer fans after overnight attacks in Amsterdam that officials described as anti-Semitic, although there was evidence of provocative chanting by Israeli fans.

Videos circulating on social media showed riot police intervening in street clashes, with some attackers shouting anti-Israel insults.

Some images also showed Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday night’s match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam.

Five people were treated at the hospital and released, while 20 to 30 people suffered minor injuries, police said. At least 62 suspects were arrested and 10 are still in custody, city prosecutor René de Beukelaer told reporters at a news conference on Friday.

While there were initial reports of missing Israeli fans, by mid-afternoon on Friday Amsterdam police said there were no people missing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the order to send planes was made after “a very violent incident” against Israeli citizens following the match between Maccabi and Ajax Amsterdam, traditionally identified as a Jewish club.

Israeli airlines El Al and Arkia announced five flights to Amsterdam.

A witness captured video verified by Reuters showing a group of men running near Amsterdam central station, chasing and attacking other men, as police sirens sounded.

However, another verified video showed Maccabi fans lighting flares and chanting “Ole, ole, let the IDF win,” in reference to the Israel Defense Forces, followed by derogatory language directed at “Arabs.”

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof told reporters he was “ashamed by what happened in the Netherlands” on the sidelines of a summit of European Union leaders in Budapest. “It’s been a horrible night.”

Schoof assured Netanyahu by phone that “the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted,” he said in a statement on the X social media platform.

No prior threat warning

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who he said had “expressed deep horror and shock at the criminal acts committed.”

Politician Geert Wilders, head of the largest party in the Dutch government, said he was “ashamed that this could happen in the Netherlands.”

In a scathing post on social media platform X, he blamed “criminal Muslims” and said they should be deported.

Police said there were incidents before the match at the Johan Cruyff Arena, for which approximately 3,000 Maccabi fans traveled to Amsterdam.

A Palestinian flag was torn from a building in Amsterdam on Wednesday, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported, and authorities banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the stadium.

Halsema told reporters on Friday that the Dutch counterterrorism agency said no concrete threat to Israeli soccer fans was detected before the match. But afterward, he said, youths on scooters rode through the city looking for Israeli fanatics, punching and kicking them, then quickly fled to evade police.

They said fans had left the stadium without incident after the Europa League match, which Ajax won 5-0, but that clashes broke out overnight in the city centre.

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

The Gaza war has sparked protests in support of both sides across Europe and the United States, including Amsterdam, where Herzog’s opening of a new Holocaust museum sparked violent protests by pro-Palestinian activists.

More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and another 102,000 wounded in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack, according to health officials in the enclave, after the Palestinian militant group killed about 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostages. according to Israel.

Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri said in a statement that “the Amsterdam incidents confirm that the ongoing genocide in Gaza, broadcast live without international action to stop it and hold those responsible accountable, can lead to spontaneous reactions.”