THE HAGUE – Dutch police arrested more than 150 football fans yesterday after they chanted anti-Semitic slogans while on their way to a first division game in Amsterdam.
The incident happened at a metro station close to the capital’s Johan Cruijff ArenA, home of Ajax Amsterdam at around 7.30pm (1730 GMT), police said in a statement.
“Police arrested 154 football supporters this evening for singing anti-Semitic songs on a subway,” police said.
“Supporters were asked several times to stop singing,” before action was taken, they added. Officers arrested them on public insult charges.
Police did not identify the supporters’ club, but Ajax, currently third in the Eredivisie standings behind Feyenoord and PSV, was facing fourth-lying AZ Alkmaar.
Local news station AT5 said those arrested were AZ supporters.
The match ended in a 0-0 draw.
Opponents of Ajax often refer to the club as “The Jews”, associated with Amsterdam’s large Jewish population before they were deported to Nazi death camps during WWII.
Ajax also had several Jewish chairmen and players in the 1960s and 70s including greats like former Dutch national skipper Bennie Muller and Sjaak Swart.
But the term “The Jews” has on many occasions been turned into a term of anti-Semitic abuse by opponents.
Dutch football authorities last month vowed to clamp down on growing incidents of bad behaviour and hooliganism by Dutch football fans after one of Ajax’s players was injured when hit on the head by a lighter thrown by a Feyenoord supporter. – AFP, May 7, 2023
