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Amsterdam mayor announces measures after riots
20 November: Job Cohen, mayor of Amsterdam, has announced a
series of drastic measures after the violent escalations during
and after Sunday's NAC game. No more alcoholic beverages will
be sold inside the stadium, at least until the winter break.
The Ajax hooligans arrested during the riots will get a
"stadium ban" and lose their season cards. They will not be
able to buy one for next season. If sufficient proof can be
found, the fans will also be individually prosecuted in
court.
The Ajax vs NAC riots, the worst in the five-year history of
the Amsterdam ArenA, began inside the stadium during the game,
as Ajax hooligans unexpectedly showed up on the main terraces
attacking a group of NAC fans who were seated there. Apart from
the 'away section' in the north curve, Ajax also reserves a
number of tickets for visiting fans on the main stand, directly
left of the F-Side section.
As NAC equalized shortly before half-time, a group of Breda
fans sitting in section 103, on the main terrace of the ArenA,
jumped up cheering. F-Side fans later claimed that some of the
NAC fans made gestures described as "provoking, 'come here'
gestures".
Almost immediately, the situation got out of hand. Some
twenty Ajax hooligans showed up on the main stand a few minutes
later, assaulting the NAC fans who had apparently made the
provoking gestures. The hooligans reached the main terraces by
breaking through one of the glass panels separating the
sections in the gallery under the stands. Security personnel
was unable to stop them.
The riot police arrived on the terraces remarkably late.
Ajax' general director, Arie van Eijden, would later admit on
AT5 television that the communication between the control room
and riot police commanders was far from perfect, due to
technical problems. Van Eijden also announced that the Ajax
will no longer place visiting fans in a main stand section so
close to the hard core of Ajax fans.
After their "visit" to the main terrace, the hooligans were
forced back to the gallery of the F-Side stand, where fights
between riot police and an estimated 200 hooligans continued
throughout the half-time break. The police were forced to give
up efforts to control the violence, choosing to wait it out
from behind closed glass doors while much of the stadium
facilities were destroyed. Food bars, cigarette machines and
ArenA Card dispencers were looted during the rioting. A fire
was set in the restrooms.
The disturbance continued for several hours after the game,
which Ajax lost 1-3.
Panes and glass panels of surrounding shops, including the
Heineken Music Hall and the Pathé Mega Cinema, were
smashed with bricks, and several fires were started around the
stadium. The NAC team and fans had to stay inside the ArenA for
over two hours for their safety. 76 Ajax fans were arrested for
violent acts and for ignoring repeated police orders to leave
the ArenA area.
"The behaviour of Ajax fans improved over the past few
years," mayor Cohen said in Het Journaal, the news on
national TV, "but has deteriorated recently. We will not accept
that. Football is supposed to be fun, and it should stay that
way."
The disturbance follows recent remarks by Jelle Kuiper,
chief commander of the Amsterdam Police Department, demanding a
"higher safety level" from Ajax and calling it "unbelievable"
that Ajax keeps allowing rioters to return to the ArenA, rather
than "saying goodbye to them forever." (MP)
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