Amsterdam riot suspects on trial say anti-Semitic slurs were not meant for all Jews
The first day of trials against a group of five suspects accused of violence in Amsterdam around the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv football match on November 7 began on Wednesday, largely with claims of innocence. Several of the suspects faced allegations that the attacks on Israeli football supporters were anti-Semitic in nature due to their participation in social media groups where the suspects frequently used slurs and calls to violence leveled at Jews. These suspects said that they were not referring to all Jews, but only those who supported Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Israeli people they blame for current conflicts in the Middle East.
“The anger about the situation in Gaza can be expressed legally,” the prosecutor told the District Court of Amsterdam. The trials against three of the five were completed on Wednesday, and the Public Prosecution Service (OM) has demanded up to two years in prison against one of them, and six months in prison against the other two. The men are charged with public violence and several other offenses, with hate crime provisions cited as an aggravating factor. Verdicts are expected on December 24.
The hearing about another suspect, 22-year-old Palestinian asylum seeker Mahmoud A., will continue on Thursday, when the court hears testimony in two other cases. Charged with attempted manslaughter, A. broke down sobbing as his attorney began to share his story. The case against him was suspended when his interpreter's allotted time expired.
The case against Mohammed B. was postponed until the court can hear more witnesses. B. was among those caught in viral videos chasing down people who were assaulted that night. His case will likely pick back up in January.
Lucas D. recommended to spend six months in prison, three which could be conditionally suspended
The first suspect to appear was 19-year-old Lucas D. from Monnickendam. According to the OM, D. was part of a group of around 150 men who tried to break through a riot police line on Anton de Komplein in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. The OM demanded six months in prison against D., three of which are conditional.
D. was accused of participating in Snapchat conversations in which statements inciting violence were made. The OM said intercepted messages show him referring to Maccabi supporters as "Jews," "cancer Zionists," and "cancer Jews." In Dutch, using the names of diseases, like kanker, or "cancer," add a particularly vulgar edge to the noun which follows.
A police officer said he saw D. throw two rocks at police cars, and then snapped a photo of D. holding an object in his hand. The OM said it was a stone, but the suspect says it was clay which he picked up for no reason and dropped immediately afterward. He was also accused of possessing dangerous illegal fireworks as a powerful Cobra 6 firecracker was found on him when he was searched.
D. said he couldn’t remember most of the Snapchat discussion. “It’s been a while.” He also said that he took the firework with him to light at the match, but decided to take it home again because there were too many police officers.
“The contents of his phone underline Lucas D.’s intentions,” the OM said. People were inciting each other to fight. Adding fuel to the fire. "The suspect was anything but passive in this.”
Sefa Ö. facing two years in prison, six months could be conditionally suspended
The second suspect whose case was handled is 32-year-old Sefa Ö., accused of committing public violence on Dam Square. Video footage shows Ö. hanging out in the city center, then attacking multiple Maccabi supporters on Dam Square around midnight a few hours after the match. There is also footage of him kicking someone in the head, and abusing others, which was filmed by one of his acquaintances in videos which went viral.
Video footage showed him jump towards someone and kick them into a tram, and then further pummel the victim while they were on the ground. He was also accused of chasing down two people who fell on the narrow street, Zoutsteeg, and theen assault them. He is alleged to have pushed another.
The OM demanded two years in prison against Ö., of which six months is conditional. He was accused of having a leading role in riling people up to attack individuals that night. His attorneys were shocked by that recommendation to the court.
He moved to the Netherlands with his family when he was nine years old, and currently lives in Amsterdam where he works as a barber. The OM did not accuse him of being fueled in any way by a hatred for Jewish people, but said he was enraged by Israel's conduct in the year following the October 7 Hamas attack in that country.
"The violence was influenced by anger about the situation in Gaza and the equating of Maccabi supporters with the Israeli army," the prosecutor said. But that is not an excuse for his behavior, the OM continued. "The suspect has chosen to actively participate in a group that carried out attacks,” the prosecutor said. “He committed arbitrary, senseless, and excessive violence."
Ö. turned himself in after the police shared his photo on Opsporing Verzocht. He called the events around the match “very unfortunate” in court, but refused to answer further questions. “I leave that to my lawyer.” He wants to return back to his daily life.
Ö.'s attorneys called for a sentence equal to the current term of pre-trial detention. This is "barely" a "public act of violence," they argued.
Rachid O. should be jailed for six months, but three can be suspended, the OM said
The third suspect whose trial concluded on Wednesday is 26-year-old Rachid O. The OM suspects him of complicity in public violence by sending messages meant to incite violence on the WhatsApp chat group “Buurthuis 2,” and hate speech against Jewish people as a group.
The Utrecht man's messages were "undeniably a contribution to the violence," the public prosecutor said. These include statements like, "I may never get this chance to hit cancer Jews again."
“You shared locations, you shared your own location and shared photos of a phone you stole. And you were active and said there was a good chance of hitting 'cancer Jews,'” the prosecutor said.
O. told the court that he was only a member of the chat group out of curiosity and occasionally checked the messages between work and working out, and then later on when he was in the capital. He said he was only in Amsterdam to get some food, and to visit a coffeeshop.
“I was curious and asked where everyone was because I wanted to know what was going on,” O. said about participating in the Buurthuis 2 group. He thought the members of the group chat wanted to hold a demonstration. He claimed he did not know that they would attack Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters, he said.
When he asked about where the Jews were, O. said he meant the Maccabi supporters. “You call Feyenoord supporters 'cockroaches,' you call Maccabi supporters 'Jews.' Those are football terms,” he claimed. He added that he felt frustrated after seeing videos of Maccabi supporters pulling Palestine flags off buildings in Amsterdam.
O. said he was only boasting and acting tough when he said he stole a phone and when he bragged that he sent Jewish people to hospital intensive care units. “Showing off and being angry at the world. When they come here and attack people who look like Arabs, it makes me angry. Videos of that were circulating on the internet. You saw it all day long. It was all over social media. Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.”
His attorney argued that the evidence from the chat group was inadmissible, claiming it was not properly collected by investigators. She said it was not obtained through proper procedures. Without that evidence, the OM has no case, she argued.
She pleaded with the court asking the judges not to be influenced by the "one-sided image" portrayed of those involved in the violence that night.
Mohammed B.'s trial suspended until more witnesses can be heard
Mohammed B.'s case largely focused on accusations of public violence in the area of the Spui at a pro-Palestine protest the day before the riots. The case against B. was suspended until more witnesses could be questioned. His trial will likely continue in January.
Video surfaced that showed B. running after an individual. “You chased a man and kicked him and tried to hit him,” the public prosecutor said to B. in court. The man’s lawyer argued that B. tried to chase away several people from a pro-Palestine demonstration. His reaction may have been too intense, the lawyer said.
The authorities’ actions were also “disproportionate,” the attorney said. A heavily-armed police tactical team arrested B. at his parents' home and the police detained him for ten days, the lawyer said. “And that for an act for which another person can expect a community service order at most. Why is my client being treated so harshly?”
According to B.’s lawyer, the OM is trying to punish his client for attacks on Israeli football supporters that happened after the incident for which B. was allegedly involved.
The prosecutor did acknowledge that the case might have been different if the riots around the Maccabi Tel Aviv match had not happened and the video of B. chasing someone had not gone viral. “That’s what got the case rolling and that’s why I ordered his arrest,” the prosecutor said.
The video of B. “led to new acts of violence,” the prosecutor said. According to the prosecutor, B. is also an “active activist who sometimes crosses the line. Then I conclude that there is no reason not to prosecute B.”
Palestinian asylum-seeker's attempted manslaughter case will continue Thursday
The court was only able to spend about 20 minutes on Mahmoud A.'s case because the Palestinian man's interpreter was only able to remain in the hearing until about 4 p.m. He stands accused of attempted manslaughter for violence that took place after the football match in the city center at Dam Square and on Damrak.
Investigators have not been able to identify the victims seen beaten in video footage, but it was clear that A. kicked someone's head a total of four times, the OM argued. He is accused of several other incidents of public violence. Both A.'s attorney, Anis Boumanjal, and attorneys representing victims called for the case to be delayed.
Boumanjal argued that A. likely has psychological issues and unprocessed trauma. Victims' representatives said that more time is needed because the victim has not been identified, and the trial is being held so soon after the violence. Because it is a case of attempted manslaughter, the man has a right to address his assailant and the court.
M. was born in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, and Boumanjal felt the court needed a complete view of the defendant on matters which often affect a verdict and sentencing in Dutch criminal cases. As his attorney spoke, M. listened in via a translator and frequently broke down in tears.
His attorney claimed that M. grew up in a refugee camp after Israeli settlers disposed his family of their home. "He grew up with this sadness. He has never seen his father happy," the attorney said, according to a report in Parool. Further, his sister has an intellectual disability, and a bombing left his brother dead.
As such, M. is entitled to a psychological evaluation, even if the court wants to handle these cases swiftly. He should not "go from a refugee camp to a long sentence in the Netherlands," the attorney said. Further, his pre-trial detention should be lifted if the case is delayed, the attorney added.
"The war has not left his side his entire life", according to the lawyer. "He is a child of the war and that can affect his mental development."
