Amsterdam police detain pro-Palestinian protesters at banned demonstration

Police detained dozens people Sunday for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed following violence targeting fans of an Israeli soccer club, a local broadcaster reported.

Dutch police detained dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters in Amsterdam on Sunday after they defied a demonstration ban put in place in the wake of violence against Israeli football supporters.

Earlier in the day, the Amsterdam District Court upheld a decision by the mayor to ban protests in the city, three days after it was rocked by violence between Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans and men on scooters in several areas of the city.

But hundreds of protesters gathered in the city’s Dam square nevertheless, holding up placards that said “We want our streets back” and chanting “Free Palestine”, an AFP correspondent saw.

Police in riot gear moved in on the protesters in the afternoon, shortly after the court upheld the ban on protests, detaining dozens, according to AFP reporters on the scene.

Those detained were taken to waiting buses and brought elsewhere in the city, before being released, local media outlet AT5 reported.

Police could not say whether any protesters remained in custody.

In attacks that sparked outrage around the world, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were briefly hospitalised after coming under assault following a match with the local Ajax team on Thursday evening.

“The mayor has rightly decided that there will be a ban on demonstrating in the city this weekend,” the court announced on X.

(AFP)

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