26-year-old arrested for public violence after attack on Israeli football supporters

The police have arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of public violence during the multiple attacks on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam on Thursday. The man was arrested after being recognized by police on camera footage. It allegedly shows him assaulting someone, according to NOS. The suspect is in custody and is being questioned.

A large team of detectives launched a large-scale investigation on Friday morning following the riots surrounding the Ajax-Maccabi match. The detectives are focusing on analyzing camera images to identify suspects.

Five people were hospitalized, and 30 others suffered minor injuries, police said. A total of 62 people were arrested in the immediate aftermath, and ten of them were still in custody Friday afternoon. Over 800 police officers were deployed on the streets of Amsterdam prior to the football match and during the violence after.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof wrote on X that he was “horrified” by violent clashes between pro-Palestine protesters and Israeli football supporters in the Dutch capital on Thursday. He spoke of “anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli citizens” and called it “completely unacceptable.”

Many Israeli supporters will travel back to Israel on Saturday, reports the spokesperson of the Israeli embassy in The Hague.

They will travel on additional flights operated by Israeli airlines. These normally do not fly on Saturdays because of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. There are four flights to Tel Aviv on Schiphol's departure list for Saturday. Two of them have already departed.

Some of the supporters already left on Friday. According to the spokesperson, a total of 3,000 supporters are traveling back to Israel. Flights are also planned for Sunday. Three flights are on the departure list from Schiphol Airport to Tel Aviv on that day.

A spokesperson for Schiphol Airport was unable to provide any details about the additional flights, stating only that “requests for additional flights will be processed from Schiphol.”