The Dam currently a safety risk area due to Ajax's 125th anniversary celebrations

The Dam and the surrounding areas have been designated safety risk areas from 3 p.m. on Tuesday in anticipation of the celebrations of Ajax’s 125th anniversary on the square in Amsterdam. This means that the police are allowed to perform preventive searches on the Dam, the Rembrandtplein, and a part of the Amstel.

The area will remain a safety risk area until midnight. The city’s mayor, police, and justice department are preparing to keep “the situation on the Dam as controlled and festive as possible.”

Bringing heavy and illegal fireworks or wearing face coverings is forbidden. The expectation is for some of the supporters to continue celebrations in other parts of the city after the celebrations at the Dam have ended.

AFCA Supportersclub and the F-Side announced the party last week. They chose the Dam as the location because Ajax were founded at the start of the Kalverstraat and that is near the Dam square in Amsterdam.

A spokesperson for the city’s mayor, Femke Halsema, reported that the city’s leaders understand the need to celebrate the anniversary where it all began. “At the same time, there are risks connected to this. The Dam is one of the busiest areas in the city, and, therefore, controlling the festivities is challenging,” said the spokesperson.

AT5 and NH Nieuws reported that the 125th anniversary was already heralded in the night from Monday to Tuesday with torches and fireworks at the Johan Cruijff ArenA and the Kalverstraat. Images show supporters with red torches standing in the Amsterdam shopping street and many decorative fireworks going up in the stadium.

The first Ajax supporters started to arrive at around 6 p.m. A few hundred of the club's fans gathered around the National Monument on Dam Square. Many of them were wearing Ajax scarves and waving the team's red and white flag.