Watch: Amsterdam tram set on fire in new wave of violence days after ‘Jew hunt’

Footage shows mob setting vehicle ablaze and smashing its windows as police struggle to contain chaos

A tram was set on fire in Amsterdam overnight by dozens of rioters in the second wave of violence to rock the Dutch capital in recent days.
Footage showed a mob, dressed in black and armed with sticks and fireworks. setting the tram ablaze, smashing its windows and damaging properties as police struggled to control the chaos.
The rioters were heard shooting “Kanker Joden”, which means “cancer Jews” and is used interchangeably with “f— Jews”, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Police said it was not clear who started the unrest, adding that the fire was extinguished and riot officers cleared the square in western Amsterdam late on Monday. No one was injured in the incident because the tram was empty, a police spokesman said.
It comes days after Israeli football fans were ambushed, kicked and beaten on the streets of the city by a pro-Palestine mob in an incident described by Geert Wilders, the Dutch hard-Right leader of the Freedom Party, as a “Jew hunt”.
Dutch police said they made five more arrests of those involved in the violence, which followed the Ajax vs Maccabi Tel Aviv football match on Thursday night.
Police made 63 arrests in connection with the clashes. The suspects were all men aged 18 to 37 and from Amsterdam or surrounding cities. Four are still in custody, while a fifth has been released but remains a suspect.
Femke Halsema, Amsterdam’s mayor, described it as a “black night and a dark day” for the city as she announced emergency powers for police and banned all demonstrations.
Dick Schoof, the Dutch prime minister, condemned the “anti-Semitic attacks” and said “nothing can justify” violence against Jews.
Reports of anti-Semitic speech, vandalism and violence have been on the rise in Europe since the start of the war in Gaza, and tensions mounted in Amsterdam ahead of Thursday night’s match.
Gideon Saar, Israel’s new foreign minister, rushed to the Netherlands on Friday and offered Israel’s help in the police investigation.
On Saturday, he met the Dutch prime minister and said in a statement that the attacks, and demands to show passports, “were reminiscent of dark periods in history”.