Five people were treated at hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were banned by local authorities from gathering outside the stadium, and video showed a large crowd of Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans on their way to the game.
Afterward, youths on scooters and on foot crisscrossed the city in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing quickly to evade police, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said. Ofek Ziv, a Maccabi fan from the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, said someone threw a rock at his head, causing light bleeding, as he and a friend left the stadium. He said a group of men began to chase him, before he and his friend got into a taxi, picked up other fans and took shelter at a hotel.
Another Israeli fan, Alyia Cohen, said upon arriving back in Israel that he would go back to Amsterdam for future matches. Five people were treated in the hospital and released, while some 20 to 30 people suffered light injuries, police said. Condemnation of the violence poured in from around Europe. Police said security will be beefed up at Jewish institutions across the city, which has a large Jewish community and was home to Jewish World War II diarist Anne Frank and her family as they hid from Nazi occupiers.
Ajax fans sometimes wave Star of David flags and chant the Dutch word for Jews. Saar met with the Dutch minister for security and justice, pledging Israeli help in the investigation, and also held talks with Geert Wilders, a far right, anti-Islam lawmaker whose party won national elections last year.
Amsterdam police spokeswoman Sara Tillart said it was too early in their investigation to say if anybody other than soccer fans was targeted. Authorities outlawed demonstrations across the city for the weekend and gave police extra powers to frisk people.
