Police identified 45 suspects in Amsterdam riots, unblurred photos of suspects released
Update: A suspect in connection with the violence in Amsterdam surrounding the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv match has reported to the police on Saturday evening. The suspect is one of three suspects of whom unblurred images were released on Friday evening, according to the police.
Police currently have 45 suspects in their sights in connection with the riots in Amsterdam after the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv match last Thursday. Nine of them have been identified and arrested so far. They are still in custody, police reported on Sunday.
There are images of the 45 suspects, says a police spokesperson. All 45 are suspected of serious violent crimes. On Friday, police said they had 29 more suspects in their sights, including five suspects whose blurred images were previously shown. They are said to have committed the most serious violence. Two of the five have turned themselves in and have been arrested.
The unblurred photos of the remaining three have been online since Friday evening. The police spokesperson says that more images of other suspects will be released soon. As with the previous five, these images will first be blurred. If that does not lead to an identification, they will be converted to images on which the suspects can be seen more clearly.
There were many violent incidents in Amsterdam around the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv match on Thursday, November 8. Israelis were chased and assaulted by small groups of rioters in various places in the city. Anti-Semitic insults can be heard in videos of the incidents. Five people had to go to the hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the attacks. However, there is also footage of Maccabi supporters instigating violence against Amsterdam locals.
The following days were also filled with unrest, including banned protests on Dam Square last Sunday and a riot in Amsterdam Nieuw-West on Plein ‘40-’45 on Monday.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema said that local authorities asked the National Coordinator for Counter-terrorism and Security (NCTV) for a security risk assessment on the Ajax vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv match and the Kristallnacht commemoration happening on the same night. The NCTV saw no concrete threat, the mayor said. Early police investigation shows that the riots were quickly organized on Telegram, Halsema claimed.
Early this week, the court arraigned eight suspects who were arrested for violence in Amsterdam on Thursday 7, and Friday 8 November.
Reporting by ANP and NL Times
