Eight Ajax Fans Arrested After Riots Ensue Due to Second Consecutive Eredivisie Game Being Cancelled

Dutch police arrested eight Ajax fans in Amsterdam following riots triggered by the cancellation of an Eredivisie match between Ajax and FC Utrecht due to a police strike.

Ajax’s second consecutive match in the Eredivisie (Dutch top-flight) as the club’s supporters came together at Leidseplein to protest against the police strikes.

The match on Sunday was called off due to the police force going on strike. As reported by NLTimes, the police union made the announcement on Friday that they would not be present as a result of their strike. With no police being deployed, the safety of both the fans and players would be at risk.

Ajax’s previous match against FC Utrecht was also similarly called off due to the police strikes. The report claims that the Ajax Supporters Delegation, which includes many groups of supporters for Ajax were not pleased with the club’s fixtures being targeted continuously.

“We are disappointed about that. We thought that the match on Sunday could have gone ahead, with additional measures and good agreements between both clubs and supporters,” Ajax’s press officer had told a local broadcaster.

According to authorities, fans gathered in the city centre, causing damage to police headquarters and vandalizing police vehicles. The riot police were deployed after the crowd continued to provoke confrontations with officers.

Ajax have only played two games in the season where they won and lost a game each. Meanwhile, the other teams have already played 4-5 games in the season. As a result of the postponement, Ajax are currently down at 15th in the league table, just one position away from being possibly relegated.

The club has not been at their reputed best and would hope that they can get back to their best as they are set to compete in the newly formatted UEFA Europa League. They would face off against the likes of Besiktas, Slavia Praha, Qarabag FK, and Maccabi Tel-Aviv among many other sides in their European campaign.

(with IANS Inputs)

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