A Nations League football match between France and Israel will go ahead as planned in Paris next week despite the clashes that erupted in Amsterdam following a game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax, the French interior minister said on Friday.
The game at the Stade de France on Thursday has been identified as a potential flashpoint but Bruno Retailleau said France would not `back down`.
“Some are calling for the France-Israel match to be relocated. I do not accept this,” Retailleau wrote on X.
“France is not backing down because that would amount to giving up in the face of threats of violence and anti-Semitism,” he added.
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Retailleau said he had asked Paris police chief Laurent Nunez to take the necessary security measures for the match. A lawmaker from Marine Le Pen`s National Rally (RN) party, Julien Odoul, on Thursday suggested moving the match to the island of Corsica.
Violence flared in Amsterdam after a Europa League match on Thursday between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli, Dutch, and European leaders on Friday condemned `anti-Semitic` clashes and Israel sent rescue planes for its citizens.
The mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema said the violence represented an `explosion` of anti-Semitism that has `not been seen in a long time`, describing `hit and run` attacks on Maccabi supporters by `hooligans on scooters`.
Meawnhile, Amsterdam`s mayor said Friday that the Dutch counter-terror watchdog said there was no concrete threat to Israeli soccer fans after a game that ended with clashes between the fans and protesters.
The city`s acting police chief said at a news conference that the fans were “willfully attacked.”
Amsterdam police said Friday that five people were hospitalised and 62 arrested after what authorities described as systematic anti-semitic violence targeting Israeli fans following a soccer match.
(With agency inputs)
