AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch cabinet met in an emergency session on Friday amid reports that the coalition could implode over the government’s handling of violence last week involving fans of an Israeli team who was visiting the country for a Europa League football match, local media reported.
Nora Achahbar resigned this Friday as deputy finance minister after some ministers accused young Dutch men of Moroccan descent of attacking Israeli fans in Amsterdam on the occasion of the November 7 game between Dutch team Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, local media reported citing sources.
The violence was condemned by Israel and Dutch politicians, with the mayor of Amsterdam saying that “anti-Semitic squads” had attacked Israeli fans.
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Social media footage also showed Maccabi Tel Aviv fans chanting anti-Arab slogans and tearing down a Palestinian flag from a building before the game.
Achahbar, a Moroccan-born former public prosecutor, felt that several ministers’ comments on last week’s events had crossed the line, with offensive and possibly racist comments about the attacks on Israeli fans, newspaper De Volkskrant reported.
The resignation triggered Friday’s cabinet crisis meeting, at which other cabinet members from his centrist NSC party also threatened to resign, broadcasters NOS and RTL said, citing government sources.
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If Achahbar’s center-right NSC party leaves government, the other three members of the coalition could continue as a minority government or call back early elections.
The coalition is led by Geert Wilders’ anti-Muslim populist PVV party, which came first in the general election a year ago. It was installed in July, after months of tense negotiations.
Wilders has repeatedly claimed that young Dutch men of Moroccan descent were the main attackers of Israeli fans, although police did not give details about the suspects’ backgrounds.
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Neither Wilders nor Acahbar were available for comment as the cabinet meeting was underway on Friday afternoon. Achahbar’s office and government spokespeople could not immediately be reached by Reuters.
Party leaders were seen attending the meeting at Prime Minister Dick Schoof’s official residence in The Hague.
Achahbar’s resignation comes after a turbulent week in Amsterdam. The city’s police department said Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag before being chased and beaten by gangs on scooters.
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Schoof said on Monday that the incidents showed that some young Dutch people with an immigrant background do not share “fundamental Dutch values”.
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