A high police presence is being prepared for the France vs. Israel Nations League football match at the Stade de France in Paris on Thursday (November 14).
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez described the event as high risk and revealed 4,000 gendarmes would be around the stadium, on public transport and in Paris.
"An elite unit of national police will also protect the Israel team," Nunez said. "The geopolitical context is extremely delicate."
Nunez said the police would adopt an attitude of zero tolerance of disorder before and after the event.
French President Emmanuel Macron will attend the match, according to his office. Macron's attendance was to "send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable acts of anti-Semitism that followed the match in Amsterdam this week", his office said.
Israeli authorities urged Israeli fans to skip Thursday's France-Israel football game in Paris, after violence in Amsterdam following a match between an Israeli team and a local one.
The National Security Council called on Israelis to "avoid attending sports games/cultural events involving Israelis, with an emphasis on the upcoming match of the Israeli national team in Paris", a statement said.
Meanwhile, Dutch police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters in Amsterdam on Sunday after they defied a demonstration ban, put in place in the wake of clashes between Israeli football fans and groups of youths.
Earlier in the day, the Amsterdam District Court upheld a decision by the mayor to ban protests in the city, three days after it was rocked by violence between Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans and men on scooters in several areas of the city.
But hundreds of protesters nevertheless gathered in the city's Dam square, holding up placards that said "We want our streets back" and chanting "Free Palestine", an AFP correspondent saw.
Police in riot gear moved in on the protesters in the afternoon, shortly after the court upheld the ban on protests.
In attacks that sparked outrage around the world, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were briefly hospitalized after coming under assault following a match with the local Ajax team last Thursday evening.
The clashes came amid a rise in anti-Semitism globally since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
"The mayor has rightly decided that there will be a ban on demonstrating in the city this weekend," the court announced on X.
It therefore "rejected the request" by protests to hold their demonstration.
Dutch activist Frank van der Linde applied for an urgent permit to demonstrate on the city's famous Dam Square, despite a temporary ban on protests announced by mayor Femke Halsema on Friday.
Van der Linde wanted to protest on the Dam against the "genocide in Gaza, but also because our right to protest has been taken away," Dutch national news agency ANP quoted him as saying.
Friday's emergency measures also included heightened police protection and wearing of face masks, and will be in place until Monday morning.
But on Sunday afternoon dozens of demonstrators started gathering at the square in the city's centre, despite a heavy police presence.
The protesters, who were peaceful, chanted slogans and carried placards including one that read: "We can fight anti-Semitism and genocidal Zionism at the same time."
At least 63 people have been arrested since Thursday, but only before and during the match. Four people remained in custody, prosecutors said.
Police have launched a massive investigation and more arrests were expected.
With AFP
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