Five convicted over Amsterdam clashes with Israeli football fans

Men found guilty of crimes including kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv and inciting violence in chat groups.

A Dutch court has convicted five men for their part in last month’s violence involving Israeli football fans in Amsterdam.

The Amsterdam district court on Tuesday found them guilty of a range of crimes from kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the street to inciting violence in chat groups.

The heaviest sentence imposed was six months in prison, for a man identified as Sefa O for public violence against several people.

The violence took place on November 8 during two days of skirmishes in the city, where the Israeli football fans clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League football match between their team Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.

Videos shared on social media at the time showed Israeli fans chanting racist, anti-Arab songs, vandalising a taxi and burning a Palestinian flag.

The fighting broke out after that and was instigated by the Israeli fans, witnesses and a local councilman told Al Jazeera at the time.

Police arrested people who had beaten the Israeli fans, as global leaders made accusations of anti-Semitism.

The prosecutor in the case said the beatings had “little to do with football” but added that “in this case, there was no evidence of … a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by anti-Semitic sentiment”.

“The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by anti-Semitism,” said the prosecutor.

The most serious case under consideration by the court on Tuesday was Sefa, who prosecutors said played a “leading role” in the violence.

The court saw images of a man identified as Sefa kicking a person on the ground, chasing targets, and punching people in the head and the body.

Another man identified as Umutcan A, 24, received a sentence of one month for assaulting fans and ripping a Maccabi scarf from one of them.

A 22-year-old, identified as Abushabab M, faces a charge of attempted murder, but his case has been postponed while he undergoes a psychiatric assessment. He was born in the Gaza Strip and grew up in a war zone, his lawyer told the court, while Abushabab sat sobbing as his case was being heard.

A further six suspects are set to appear at a later stage. Three of these suspects are minors and their cases will be heard behind closed doors.

Police said they were investigating at least 45 people over the violence, including that carried out by fans of the Israeli club.

At an emotionally charged news conference the morning after the riots, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said the city had been “deeply damaged” by “hateful anti-Semitic rioters”.

However, Halsema later said she regretted the parallel she had drawn between the violence and “memories of pogroms”, saying this word had been used as propaganda.