The police in Amsterdam were holding four suspects on Saturday in connection with an investigation into what the city authorities described as antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the Dutch capital this past week, a police spokeswoman said.
The police initially detained 62 people around the attacks, which unfolded over two days on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, the tension and violence simmered around a match between Ajax, a Dutch team, and Maccabi Tel Aviv, an Israeli team.
Videos showed Israeli fans shouting anti-Arab chants on their way to the match as the police escorted them near Amsterdam’s central train station to help ensure their safety amid anger over the war in Gaza. One of the chants said: “Why is there no school in Gaza? There are no children left there.”
At the stadium, riot police units and mounted officers kept pro-Palestinian groups and Israeli fans apart.
Most of the 62 who were initially detained were quickly released, while four remained in custody on Saturday, all suspected of public violence, according to Marijke Stor, a Dutch police spokeswoman. One of the four is a 26-year-old who was arrested on Friday after the police identified him from CCTV footage, she said.
“If people are released, it doesn’t mean they are no longer a suspect,” Ms. Stor said. “Other arrests can still be made, of course, because the investigation is still ongoing,” she added. Prosecutors have not charged anyone, she said.
Tensions had been building in Amsterdam around Thursday’s game. Pro-Palestinian protests had been planned in the city for Thursday, a day after Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, banned protests near the stadium in an effort to stave off violence.
But on Wednesday night, Israeli fans vandalized a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag, the Dutch police say.
The police deployed 800 officers to try to maintain order during the match. And while the game went ahead without violence, there were confrontations in or near the city center.
The Dutch police said that some people riding scooters had kicked and beat Israeli fans in hit-and-run attacks, while others pelted them with fireworks.
Peter Holla, Amsterdam’s police chief, expressed shock a news conference on Friday that “one of the largest deployments that we as Amsterdam police — with national assistance — have made in a year could not prevent this violence.”
Five Israelis were hospitalized with injuries and were later discharged, the police said, and 20 to 30 others sustained lightly injuries.
Israel’s government, concerned about the safety of its citizens, warned soccer fans in Amsterdam to stay off the streets and to avoid wearing Israeli or Jewish symbols. It also helped arrange flights to bring Israeli citizens home.
Gideon Saar, Isreal’s newly appointed foreign minister, traveled to the Netherlands on Thursday and met with the Dutch justice minister and Geert Wilders, whose anti-Muslim party is the largest party in the Dutch Parliament.
In a series of social media posts, Mr. Wilders has used the clashes to attack what he calls “radical Islam” in sometimes incendiary language. After meeting with Mr. Saar, Mr. Wilders wrote that he had “assured him of our common interest to beat antisemitism and Jew hate and that radical Islamic values have no place in a free society.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, Stephan van Baarle, the leader of DENK, a small pro-immigrant party, blamed the authorities for failing to stop what he called provocations by Israeli fans.
“Where were the police when Maccabi thugs chanted genocidal and racist slogans about Gaza?” he said in video posted to the party’s website.
The Amsterdam police say they have launched a broad investigation and have asked members of the public to come forward with relevant images and information.