Three arrested after another night of unrest
in Amsterdam
The police arrested three people after another night of unrest in Amsterdam, this time in the Nieuw-West district. The riot police intervened and calm had mostly returned by the end of the evening, the Amsterdam police reported on X.
The unrest started at around 7:15 p.m. on Plein ‘40-’45. A group involving dozens of people, many on scooters and fat bikes, committed vandalism, threw fireworks, and pelted cars and a bus with stones, local media wrote.
A tram caught fire after a firework was thrown into it. No one was on the tram at the time and first responders quickly extinguished the blaze.
At around 10:15 p.m., the square was accessible again because the rioters had moved on to Slotermeerlaan. There, they pelted police officers with stones, AT5 reported.
The police reported no injuries that required hospitalization. One of the rioters got hurt while setting off a firework. Paramedics treated them at the scene.
Parool reported that a boy on a bicycle got beaten up when cycling past the group. “People are agitated. The police really saved me,” he told the newspaper.
The police expect more arrests to follow. There is plenty of video footage with which investigators can identify perpetrators, a police spokesperson told NOS. Anti-Semitic insults can be heard in the videos.
Things have been restless in Amsterdam since a match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday. Riots followed the match and Maccabi supporters were chased and attacked in several places. There is also footage of Israelis instigating violence against locals. Earlier, Maccabi supporters had pulled down Palestinian flags and vandalized taxis. On Sunday, the police arrested over 50 people at a banned pro-Palestine demonstration on Dam Square.
An emergency decree is in effect in Amsterdam until Thursday. The decree bans all demonstrations and the wearing of face-covering clothing. It also gives the police more power to take preventative action, like stopping and frisking people.
Amsterdam trams & buses will not run in Nieuw-West
tonight amid calls for more rioting
Amsterdam public transport firm GVB announced adjustments to scheduled service after an area police commander warned that more rioting could take place in the Nieuw-West district on Tuesday night. The company said three of its tram routes and two bus lines will run a modified route, while one tram and two bus lines will not run at all after rioters a night earlier smashed one of the GVB trams, and detonated fireworks inside of it.
The tram caught on fire at Plein '40-'45 during the continuation of violence in the Dutch capital that has been ongoing since last week. Anti-Semitic slurs could be heard on videos while the fireworks were lit. Last Thursday, football supporters and hooligans aligned with Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv were stalked, chased, and attacked throughout the city after the club played a Europa League match against Ajax.
Due to more "expected unrest," the GVB said it was implementing a series of changes at least until 1 a.m. on Wednesday Tram 13 will not run at all during that time. The tram normally connects Amsterdam's Central Station and the Lambertus Zijlplein in Geuzenveld with stops in the city center, and the West and Nieuw-West districts. Bus lines 61 and 63 also will not run their routes, which mainly serve the Nieuw-West district.
Trams 1, 7 and 17 will also run shorter routes. Tram 1 will carry riders between Muiderpoortstation and Surinameplein, line 7 will shuttle between Azartplein and the Postjesweg/Hoofdweg stop, and Tram 17 will operate between Central Station and Bos en Lommerplein. Bus 21 will also operate between Central Station and Bos en Lommerplein, while bus 369 will only operate between Sloterdijk Station and Anderlechtlaan.
In any case, tram 7, bus 21 and bus 369 will not stop at Plein '40-'45, the site of violence on Monday night. Tram 7 and 13 also would normally stop at Mercatorplein, but those stops have been scrapped. That stop has been the site of violence in the past. It was not immediately clear if that was the reason that the GVB was not using buses 15 and 18 at that location, like normal.
Earlier on Tuesday, Amsterdam police team leader Olivier Dutilh testified in court that there were no signals that violence could again break out on Tuesday night. "There is a call, 'Women and children stay at home," he said about messages intercepted by police. "That worries us. A lot."
Does that make any sense to any of you? What am I missing here?
Harsh messages distributed on social media just before the Ajax-Maccabi football match were also seen as a way to rally people together to violently pursue Maccabi supporters, with an apparent focus on those who were Israeli or Jewish. A debate on the violence started in City Council at noon on Tuesday, and will also be addressed in Parliament on Wednesday.
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