Violence in Amsterdam around a Europa League football match between the local team Ajax and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv sparked horror around the world, against a backdrop of soaring antisemitic and Islamophobic abuse and attacks across Europe fuelled by the Middle East conflict.
The Amsterdam mayor, Femke Halsema, has said she had not been told the match was high-risk, although earlier last week the Turkish club Beşiktaş moved their match against Maccabi to a neutral country, citing fear of “provocative actions”.
