'Way too far': Amsterdam in shock after 'frightening' violence

Two days after violence in Amsterdam following a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax, residents and Jewish citizens voiced shock at the events which the mayor said had "deeply damaged" the city.

In the Jodenbuurt, Amsterdam's Jewish quarter, members of the community were keeping a low profile Saturday, but one T-shirt seller at a local market said he felt "terrible" about the violence in his home city.

Five Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were briefly hospitalised in attacks that sparked outrage around the world. The clashes came amid a rise in anti-Semitism globally since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

"It's painful it's frightening and it's a shame," said the 58-year-old, who declined to give his name for security reasons.

"I feel also the shame which every Amsterdammer has to feel because again as if history is repeating itself, Jews are attacked just because of the fact they are Jews," he added.

He said he was at the game on Thursday night, after which groups of men on scooters attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in several locations around the city.

- 'Way too far' -

Tensions ran high even before the match, with isolated clashes the day before on the streets of Amsterdam.

Police said Maccabi fans had burned a Palestinian flag on the Dam central square and vandalised a taxi.

But the atmosphere at the match was "fantastic" between the two sets of supporters, said the man.

Nevertheless, he said he knew a friend who had been attacked with his 17-year-old son following the match.

"Even if there is a place for criticism about Israel in this conflict, that's of course not the way... to express it, attacking innocent people," said the man, who grew up in Israel but has lived in Amsterdam for 34 years.

One shopper in the market, 61-year-old Edit Tuboly, also voiced shock at the violence.

"I am completely against what Israel is doing in the Gaza Strip and I think that's horrible and crossing boundaries too," said Tuboly, arms full of shopping bags.

"But what has happened in Amsterdam has gone too far, way too far."

- Provocation -

AFP reporters visited the market, the Jewish museum and the main synagogue in the city, guarded by police in a calm atmosphere.

Mayor Femke Halsema has introduced special security measures to restore calm to the city, including a ban on demonstrations for three days.

The Jewish community in Amsterdam has given the city the nickname "Mokum" or "safe haven", and it has historically been seen as a refuge.

Globally, the city is renowned for being where Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis but was eventually denounced and deported to Auschwitz, wrote her diary.

"We thought so far that Amsterdam or Holland were spared from such extreme violence targeted against Jews," said the market stall holder.

The CJO Jewish Association said the Netherlands should be "ashamed" of what it described as a "pogrom" in the city.

However, Joana Cavaco, head of Erev Rav, which describes itself as an "Antizionist Jewish Collective" in the Netherlands, said the Maccabi fans had behaved provocatively when they arrived in the city.

She noted they had torn down Palestinian flags and shouted provocative slogans.

"They can do that because in Israel, there wouldn't be Palestinian flags. That may be so in Israel but it's not like this in the Netherlands," said the 28-year-old.

Cavaco said a ceremony in Amsterdam to commemorate the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the notorious 1938 Nazi pogrom, had been scrapped after Thursday night's violence.

"It feels unsafe because Israel dictated how the world sees us," she said.