Amsterdam warns of new calls for unrest after violence around Israeli soccer match

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A senior police officer warned Tuesday of calls for more rioting in Amsterdam, after dozens of people armed with sticks and firecrackers set a tram on fire Monday night and the city faces tensions following violence last week targeting fans of an Israeli soccer club.

Olivier Dutilh, of the Amsterdam police force, told a court hearing that “we have signals that there are calls for similar” unrest in the west of the city. Streets in the area were relatively calm as evening fell, and the security presence was low-profile.

The Amsterdam mayor, chief of police and top public prosecutor published a report Monday outlining what happened last week, including new details about actions by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ahead of the Maccabi Tel Aviv-Ajax soccer match.

Local authorities had decided against banning the game, but beefed up security. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were banned by local authorities from gathering outside the stadium.

The day before the game, authorities reported incidents and saw social media posts threatening Maccabi fans. Around midnight, Israeli fans ripped a Palestinian flag off a downtown building and several of them took off their belts and attacked a cab, the document said. Cab drivers sought to mobilize online in response, and centered on a casino where some 400 Israeli fans were gathered. Police mobilized to avoid a major confrontation.

The morning of the game, authorities were “specifically worried about the Maccabi fans and the reaction of cab drivers,” the document said. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema pleaded with the Israeli ambassador for officials in Israel to make clear “that this is about a sporting event and should not be mixed with politics.”

In the afternoon, social media posts hardened and antisemitic terms were used. After the 5-0 win of Ajax over Maccabi, parts of a large group of Maccabi supporters “are running around with sticks destroying things,” the document said. There were also “rioters, moving in small groups, by foot, scooter or car, quickly attacking Maccabi fans before disappearing,” the City Hall timeline said.

The police commander said that those incidents had “an antisemitic character — there is talk about a Jew hunt and people are asked about their nationality.” Rumors then surfaced about missing people and hostage-taking, which proved unfounded.

Police said the fire Monday was quickly extinguished and riot officers cleared the square. Images online showed people damaging property and setting off firecrackers. A police vehicle was later burned out in a nearby street and police said they suspect arson.

Police said it wasn't clear who started the unrest and whether it was related to what happened last week. Some rioters could be heard on video shared on social media using slurs against Jewish people.

Police said they detained three suspects and appealed for witnesses, including of the assault of a cyclist who was beaten up as he rode past the unrest.

Police noted the tense atmosphere in the city since five people were treated in the hospital and dozens detained Thursday following the soccer match. Youths on scooters and on foot went in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them and then fleeing to evade police, according to Amsterdam’s mayor.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof met Tuesday with members of Amsterdam's Jewish community to discuss antisemitism in the wake of the violence. Reports of antisemitic speech, vandalism and violence have been on the rise in Europe since the start of the war in Gaza.

A total of eight people are in custody in the investigation into last week's violence, between the ages of 16 and 37, from Amsterdam and nearby cities, according to police.

Police said they have identified over 170 witnesses and have taken forensics evidence from dozens. The prime minister said they were also examining videos posted to social media.

The mayor has banned all demonstrations in the city and declared several parts of Amsterdam risk zones where police can stop and check anyone. Dozens were detained on Sunday for taking part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed.

A small demonstration was ended by police Tuesday outside Amsterdam City Hall during a debate about the unrest, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported.

Casert reported from Brussels. Mike Corder and Molly Quell in The Hague contributed.

Police officers are seen patrolling the streets in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Police officers are seen patrolling the streets in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Police officers are patrolling a the Mercator square in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

In this image taken from video, a person looks at a damaged tram in Amsterdam, Monday Nov. 11, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo)

In this image taken from video, police officers patrol in riot gear on the streets of Amsterdam, Monday Nov. 11, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo

This image taken from video shows a damaged tram in Amsterdam, Monday Nov. 11, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo)

In this image taken from video, police vehicles and personnel patrol the streets of Amsterdam, Monday Nov. 11, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo)

This image taken from video shows a damaged tram in Amsterdam, Monday Nov. 11, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo)

In this image taken from video, police officers patrol in riot gear on the streets of Amsterdam, Monday Nov. 11, 2024, as the city is facing tensions following violence last week. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, who served two Republican presidents as one of the country’s best known conservative lawyers and successfully argued on behalf of same-sex marriage, died Wednesday. He was 84.

The law firm Gibson Dunn, where Olson practiced since 1965, announced his death on its website. No cause of death was given.

Olson was at the center of some of the biggest cases of recent decades, including a win on behalf of George W. Bush in the 2000 Florida presidential election recount dispute that went before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Even in a town full of lawyers, Ted’s career as a litigator was particularly prolific," said Mitch McConnell, the longtime Senate Republican leader. “More importantly, I count myself among so many in Washington who knew Ted as a good and decent man."

Bush made Olson his solicitor general, a post the lawyer held from 2001 to 2004. Olson had previously served in the Justice Department as an assistant attorney general during President Ronald Reagan's first term in the early 1980s.

During his career, Olson argued 65 cases before the Supreme Court, according to Gibson Dunn.

“They weren’t just little cases," said Theodore Boutrous, a partner at the law firm who worked with Olson for 37 years. “Many of them were big, blockbuster caes that helped shape our society.”

Those included the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a 2010 case that eliminated many limits on political giving, and a successful challenge to the Trump administration's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“He’s the greatest lawyer I've ever worked with or seen in action,” said Boutrous, who worked so closely with Olson that they were known at Gibson Dunn as “the two Teds.” “He was an entertaining and forceful advocate who could go toe-to-toe with the Supreme Court justices in a way few lawyers could. They respected him so much.”

One of Olson's most prominent cases put him at odds with many fellow conservatives. After California adopted a ban on same-sex marriage in 2008, Olson joined forces with former adversary David Boies, who had represented Democrat Al Gore in the presidential election case, to represent California couples seeking the right to marry.

During closing arguments, Olson contended that tradition or fears of harm to heterosexual unions were legally insufficient grounds to discriminate against same-sex couples.

“It is the right of individuals, not an indulgence to be dispensed by the state,” Olson said. “The right to marry, to choose to marry, has never been tied to procreation.”

A federal judge in California ruled in 2010 that the state's ban violated the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court let that decision stand in 2013.

“This is the most important thing I’ve ever done, as an attorney or a person,” Olson later said in a documentary film about the marriage case.

He told The Associated Press in 2014 that the marriage case was important because it "involves tens of thousands of people in California, but really millions of people throughout the United States and beyond that to the world.”

His decision to join the case added a prominent conservative voice to the rapidly shifting views on same-sex marriage across the country.

Boies remembered Olson as a giant in legal circles who “left the law, our country, and each of us better than he found us. Few people are a hero to those that know them well. Ted was a hero to those who knew him best."

Olson's personal life also intersected tragically with the nation's history when his third wife, well-known conservative legal analyst Barbara Olson, died on Sept. 11, 2001. She was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

In recent years, his other high profile clients have included quarterback Tom Brady during the “Deflategate” scandal of 2016 and technology company Apple in a legal battle with the FBI over unlocking the phone of a shooter who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in 2015.

The range of his career and his statute on the national stage were unmatched, said Barbara Becker, managing partner of Gibson Dunn.

“Ted was a titan of the legal profession and one of the most extraordinary and eloquent advocates of our time,” Becker said in a statement.

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

FILE - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, left, talks with former Solicitor General Ted Olson, before President Bush delivers a speech on terrorism in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sept. 6, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Former Solicitor General Ted Olson testifies on a panel of experts and character witnesses before the Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on the final day of the confirmation hearings, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - Chad Griffin, right, president of the Human Rights Campaign, leaves the Supreme Court, with Jeff Zarrillo, left, and Paul Katami, second from left, the plaintiffs in the California Proposition 8 case, and their attorney Ted Olson, center, in Washington, June 20, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - Former United States Solicitor General Ted Olson, center, speaks with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, right, before an installation ceremony for FBI Director Chris Wray at the FBI Building, Sept. 28, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)