The Dutch cabinet met in an emergency session on Friday amid reports the coalition could implode over the government’s handling of violence linked to a Europa League football match involving an Israeli team, local media reported.
Nora Achahbar, junior finance minister in the coalition led by anti-Muslim populist Geert Wilders’ PVV, had earlier resigned over remarks by ministers on Monday about clashes around the match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, several media reported, citing sources in the ongoing cabinet session.
Achahbar’s resignation led to the crisis cabinet meeting on Friday afternoon in which other cabinet members of her centrist NSC party also threatened to quit, broadcasters NOS and RTL said, citing government sources.
Achahbar felt several cabinet members had “crossed a line with hurtful and possibly racist comments about the attacks on Israeli football fans” in Amsterdam and riots in the days after the match, Dutch paper De Volkskrant reported.
Wilders has repeatedly said, “Dutch youth of Moroccan descent were the main attackers of the Israeli fans”. But the police have given no details about the background of the suspects.
Neither Wilders nor Achahbar, who was born in Morocco and served as public prosecutor before she joined the government in July, were available to comment as the cabinet meeting was ongoing on Friday afternoon.
Party leaders have been summoned to join the cabinet meeting on Friday evening, media said. Achahbar’s office and government spokespeople could not be immediately reached by Reuters.
If the NSC party pulls out, the other three coalition members would either have to go ahead as a minority coalition or call early elections.
Achahbar’s resignation follows a turbulent week in Amsterdam, where the local police department has said Maccabi fans last week attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag before being chased and beaten by gangs on scooters.
While unanimously condemning the violence, left-wing parties have called for dialogue with the Muslim community instead of “dividing the country”.
“I share the condemnation of the violence in Amsterdam and yes, there was indeed anti-Semitic violence,” left-wing opposition leader Frans Timmermans said.
“You are simply stoking the fires while this country has a need for politicians to unite people and find solutions,” Timmermans told Wilders.
According to social media videos, eyewitness accounts, and pro-Palestinian activists, the Maccabi supporters had armed themselves with sticks and rocks earlier in the day and shouted provocative anti-Arab chants.
Jazie Veldhuyzen, a senior city councillor, had earlier confirmed that Israeli hooligans instigated the violence in Amsterdam. He stressed the need for a thorough and objective examination.
He said that on Wednesday night, “Maccabi hooligans had initiated to attack houses with Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian Amsterdammers. That’s when the violence started.”
Amsterdam’s Police Chief Peter Holla had also confirmed that Maccabi supporters attacked a taxi and set a Palestinian flag on fire on Wednesday, according to the BBC.
Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Monday said the incidents showed that some of the youth in the Netherlands with a migration background did not share “Dutch core values”.
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