Parts of Amsterdam designated safety risk areas prior to Ajax match against Galatasary

A part of the Amsterdam city center and the area around the Johan Cruijff ArenA have been designated safety risk areas from noon until midnight on Thursday. This is due to the football match between Ajax and Turkish team Galatasaray, which will be played in the capital on Thursday evening. People can be subject to preventive searches in safety risk areas, according to the municipality.

The Amsterdam leadership, consisting of the mayor, head prosecutor, and chief of police, are expecting “public order disturbances and the lighting of heavy illegal fireworks, considering earlier experiences with European football matches,” said a spokesperson for the mayor, Femke Halsema.

The Joan Muyskenweg, Wallen area, including the Red Light District, the Dam, Spui, Waterlooplein, Nieuwmarkt, Central Station, and the subway stations in between the city center and the Bijlmer Arena station.

Supporters of the Italian football club SS Lazio were banned from attending the match against Ajax at the arena last December due to their history with right-wing extremist, anti-semitic, and racist chanting.

This was also partly due to the violence surrounding the match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, in which Tel Aviv supporters were attacked in Amsterdam after the game. Five people were hospitalized after the attacks. The first five suspects were found guilty of the violence in December and all but one were sentenced to prison.

Ajax will play against the first-place team in the Turkish league at nine p.m. It is the last match day in the first stage of the UEFA Europa League, Galatasaray have a chance of reaching the first eight spots, which would ensure that they skip the next round. Ajax is almost certainly set for the next round, which is a playoff round.