Three loud bangs sound from Amsterdam’s Leidseplein when Ajax supporter Antonio Russo (60) says to his daughter Rosalia (28): “Come on, we’re going home now.” Father and daughter have just sat down and stood on the terrace of Bar Twenty Two. “Sing a little, jump a little,” says Rosalia, who has been attending all Ajax matches at Vak Noord in the Johan Cruyff Arena with her father for years.
But Ajax is not playing this Sunday. And that is why the supporters are here in the square, hundreds of them, to express their discontent. The police are on strike this weekend over an early retirement scheme.
Therefore, no police were allowed to be present at the match between Ajax and FC Utrecht scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Last week, the Amsterdam City Council decided, together with the police and the public prosecutor’s office, that Ajax’s home game could not take place.
The Ajax supporters’ delegation announced a protest action on Leidseplein, just as the match against FC Utrecht was due to be played. Earlier this month, Ajax’s match against Feyenoord was cancelled, also due to a police strike. “Partly due to this action, we are falling behind in the competition and the matches must be made up on unfavourable days and times,” reads a statement on social media.
Rock season
Nick and Raymond, fans of Ajax Amsterdam, would like to explain what this means. They do not want their surnames to appear in the paper because they work for the municipality of Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam respectively. ‘Ajax has had a bad season. Because of these actions we are not starting well this new season. That is unfair because many other clubs are still playing. Ajax gets caught again and again.
After five weeks of play, Ajax have three points in the competition; the Amsterdam club played two games while clubs like PSV and AZ Alkmaar played five. “We thought it would be a fun afternoon, during which we would make a statement together,” say the friends who have had Ajax season tickets since 1992.
But it’s not pleasant here. After an hour, the mood turns gloomy, the crowd storms a tram, people bang on the windows and chant Ajax slogans. Two men with black scarves covering their faces climb a lamppost. Fireworks are set off. A group runs towards the police station in Marnixstraat.
“This is not what we came for,” says Russo, wearing an Ajax jersey with a beard and a gold chain. Although I understand the police’s desire to retire early. I work in construction myself, as a terrazzo, I laid the mosaic on the floor of the Rijksmuseum. My knees are broken. I’m 60 years old. I think it’s getting too heavy. Father and daughter will be present on Sunday to express their discontent about the cancelled match. But when the mood changes, they go home.
dogs and sticks
A large group of rioters has already reached the police headquarters in Marnixstraat. There a barrier is torn down and police bicycles are destroyed amidst loud cheers. Suddenly, a group of officers with dogs and batons emerge from behind the fences of the Marnixstraat police station.
Across the water, on Lijnbaansgracht, protesters shout at officers: “What should you do with your early retirement?” There is also more coarse language, with Femke (26) telling her friend Prefna Ouande (also 26): “Put your jacket on over that Ajax shirt, they’ll soon think you’re a hooligan.”
Ouande is a proud Ajax supporter, but not a troublemaker, he says. ‘I understand the police’s desire,’ he says. ‘Well, I don’t know, I understand those angry Ajax players,’ says a woman in gold Chanel sunglasses passing by with a shopping bag. ‘Nowadays everyone wants to retire early. The train crew, the cleaners and now the police. You just point at them and they start howling. So the fact that I now have to go around the block because the Ajax fans are angry is no problem.’
But this is no longer necessary, because suddenly a team of riot police rushes across the bridge towards the rioters on Elandsgracht. The rioters shoot in all directions. Two minutes later, peace is restored in front of the police station.