Four given jail terms for Amsterdam violence against football fans
VLN NIEWS/ANP/AFPFour rioters have been given short jail terms for violence against football fans visiting Amsterdam for a Europa League match between Ajax and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Sefa Ö, 32, was handed the longest sentence of six months in jail by Amsterdam district court, while another man was given 10 weeks and two others a month's detention each. A fifth defendant was given a community service order under the Netherlands' juvenile law.
The judge said a prison sentence for the four was appropriate given the seriousness of the actions and the context in which they took place.
The riots broke out in several areas of the Dutch capital in early November and led to international condemnation.
The five defendants sentenced on Tuesday were the first to be tried for hit-and-run attacks that erupted in the early hours of 8 November, after incidents that took place over two days.
The court said that there was a lot of video evidence showing Maccabi fans facing extreme violence, and also pointed to footage of supporters pulling down Palestinian flags as well as chanting slogans against Arabs. Taxis were also vandalised by the fans.
The court chairman added that there had already been unrest in the Netherlands because of the war in Gaza.
While the court took "the context" of the events into account, it said there had been "no justification for calling for and using physical violence against Israeli supporters".
Sefa Ö was found to have given a karate-type kick to one victim, causing him to fall against a moving tram, as well as taking part in several other attacks.
The trial saw video footage appeared to show him kicking and hitting victims on Dam Square, Damrak and Zoutsteeg, and prosecutors said he had played a leading role in violence that had nothing to do with football.
Rachid O, 26, who was given 10 weeks in jail, was found to have taken part in a WhatsApp chat group called Buurthuis2, on which he referred to intended victims as "cowardly" Jews who he would never again get the chance to attack.
More than 900 people were in the group and the court said the chat had been used to pass on information to "commit violence against people of Jewish descent and/or supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv".
Umutcan A, 24, was also found to have kicked one of the victims several times while taking part in an attack with other men and then kicked another fan on the ground. CCTV footage had shown him attacking several Maccabi fans, as well as grabbing one fan by the throat and seizing his football scarf.
He had written in messaging groups about a "Jew hunt" but told the trial he did not harbour hatred towards Jews.
Karanveer S, 26, had already been convicted of assault in 2022 and the court noted that did not deter him from taking part in last month's attacks.
The youngest of the five, Lucas D, 19, was found to have used violence against a police officer and taken part in a separate Snapchat group calling for violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
The five all have two weeks in which to appeal.
The court said he had an illegal, high-explosive "cobra" firework in his possession at the time of his arrest. Prosecutors had called for Lucas D to be given a jail term.
Chief prosecutor René de Beukelaer had earlier rejected suggestions that the attacks had amounted to terrorism, because he said it was not the aim of the group to instill fear in the people they were targeting.
However, he did say there were instances of antisemitism exchanged on a messaging group.
"I can well understand that the Jewish community in Amsterdam was left afraid because of this violence, but that's different from saying that was the goal of the suspects," he told Amsterdam's AT5 TV channel earlier this month.