Nearly 150 arrested for vandalizing metro, other incidents around Ajax-AEK Athens match

The police arrested 147 football supporters around Ajax’s match against AEK Athens on Thursday evening, including 140 supporters of the Amsterdam football club, for public violence. They are suspected of vandalizing a metro car at Weesperplein metro station. The riot police were deployed, the police said. Before that, police officers used batons against Ajax supporters who, according to the police, were looking for confrontations in the city center.

The police report that, otherwise, the situation in the city center was “controllable and orderly,” also due to a “heavy police presence.” Fatima Tougha, who is responsible for maintaining order around the match on behalf of the police, called the disturbances unacceptable. “These types of disturbances ruin the atmosphere of a football match and make supporters feel unsafe. That is worrying and unacceptable.”

According to the police, Greek supporters assaulted three stewards in the Johan Cruijff ArenA after a disturbance surrounding the use of a laser pointer by the supporters. Immediately after the match, the police arrested a suspect for the assault. The stewards were injured and will press charges shortly. The police are investigating the case, and more arrests may follow. Greek supporters were also arrested for, among other things, public drunkenness and insulting the police with a sticker with the print ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards).

The disturbances were “a blemish on an exciting football evening that Ajax fans enjoyed a lot,” Mayor Femke Halsema said Thursday evening. “Too often, hard-core supporters are involved in public disturbances and committing violence. The [mayor, police, and prosecutor] take this seriously and will discuss it again with the club and the KNVB.”