Pro-Hamas Rioters Take Dam Square Again, 281 Detained, Only 15 Stay in Jail

281 Pro-Hamas rioters were arrested overnight Thursday after defying an emergency order banning demonstrations and rioting in Dam Square, next to the Oost red-lights district in Amsterdam’s old city. According to reports in the Netherlands, the rioters were put on police buses and driven away from the city center. About 15 of the hundreds of protesters remained in custody, suspected of possessing objects likely to disrupt public order or cause injury, insulting a police officer, vandalism, and disobeying a police officer’s order.

All protests and rallies have been banned in the city under an emergency order following attacks on Israeli and Jewish soccer fans in Amsterdam last week. Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv were accused of provoking Arab fans through vandalism and offensive remarks; however, officials stated this was “no excuse” for the excessive violence that ensued after the Israeli club’s match against Ajax on Thursday. Approximately 35 people were injured, around 70 were arrested, and additional rioting occurred in the days that followed. Also, many commentators noted that the attack had been prepared well before the first visiting Maccabi fan ripped a Palestinian flag off a storefront.

Since last week’s clashes, officers in the Dutch capital, armed with expanded stop-and-search powers, have detained or removed hundreds of demonstrators under emergency measures in effect until Thursday. When the demonstration started on Thursday, Police in riot gear surrounded the group, detaining them and escorting them onto buses.

Arrests also took place during rioting on Monday night in Amsterdam-West, a predominantly immigrant neighborhood where Moroccan-Dutch youths express solidarity with Hamas in Gaza by setting fire to a tram car.

Less than 1% of Amsterdam’s population is Jewish, while approximately 15% is Muslim, primarily composed of first- and second-generation immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East.

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