Dec. 24 (UPI) — A Dutch court on Tuesday found five people guilty on a series of charges stemming violent clash after a match between an Israeli and Dutch soccer team in November.
The court in the Netherlands sentenced five men for their role in violent activities that took place after a soccer game in Amsterdam between the native Ajax team and the visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv at the Johan Cruijff Arena during a Thursday night on Nov. 7, which sparked international condemnation.
Three were found guilty of committing violence and the other two guilty of aiding and abetting violence. One of the defendants also was found guilty of making an offensive remark against Jewish people.
At least five people were hospitalized and more than 20 injured on the night that saw more than 60 arrests in what Dutch authorities described as “unacceptable” anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans following a UEFA Europa League match in Amsterdam. Of the arrested, 10 were Israeli nationals and most either received fines or had a case dismissed.
Hundreds of Israeli Maccabi supporters were “ambushed and brutally attacked,” the Israel Foreign Ministry previously claimed. “Mobs chanted anti-Israel slogans and proudly shared videos of their violent acts on social media — kicking, beating, even running over Israeli citizens,” the ministry stated.
The five unidentified men Tuesday represented the first to be tried and sentenced in connection with the riots.
About 45 people were issued fines for minor offenses, however, more arrests could follow with 100 others still under investigation.
Officials said roughly 800 police officers were deployed to the streets in reinforcements from across the small west European nation.
It was reported the chief prosecutor did not charge the men for terrorist acts because the court believed it was not their intent to instill fear but operated from a place of “anger, frustration and sadness” over Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza.
A demonstration was planned at the Johan Cruijff Arena but was banned and deemed a security risk by the municipality.
Footage circulated online appeared to show Maccabi Tel Aviv fans shouting racist chants about Arabs and Palestinians and tearing a Palestinian flag from a building.
A WhatsApp group called “Community Center II” with around 900 members was used to communicate information about “those Jews” and where they could be found. Two 26-year-olds were individually sentenced to prison one for a month and the other for 10 weeks after being found guilty of aiding and abetting the riots via the app. One called for violence saying he would not get the same chance.
A number of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans had been involved in past racist incidents in Israel including verbally abusing Palestinian and Arab players in the side, trying to get the owners to fire them, and for attacking demonstrators opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the BBC reported.
The violence stemmed from “a toxic combination of anti-semitism, hooliganism, and anger about the conflicts in Palestine and Israel, and other countries in the Middle East,” Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema wrote in a 12-page letter days after the riots.
According to the court, a 32-year-old will spend six months in prison for allegedly committing multiple acts of violence including beating several victims already on the ground and fly-kicking another person into a moving tram.
Meanwhile, after attacking Maccabi soccer team supporters with a group of other men, a 24-year-old was slapped with a one-month prison term for also kicking a person a number of times while they were on the ground and for stealing a scarf.
And a 19-year-old got 100 hours of community service under juvenile law. He took part in violent WhatsApp chats and allegedly carried out violent acts before the game, and was found to of likewise been violent with a police officer during pre-gram demonstrations, according to officials.
“We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again,” King Willem-Alexander told Israeli President Isaac Herzog in a phone call the day after the riot. He said it was reminiscent of “dark and grim times for the Jewish people.”