Amsterdam football club Ajax has suspended three youth players who were arrested on Thursday evening in connection with an incident involving an off-duty policewoman.

All three players from Ajax A1 youth team were released from custody on Friday but one, aged 18, remains a suspect in the case, the public prosecution department said. Two other youths of 18 and 19 will not face any charges.

The three, who were in a black Mercedes car, are said to have blocked the road and then turned on the woman when she hooted her car horn at them.

The public prosecution department describes the incident as ‘ordinary mistreatment’ rather than ‘public assault’. The woman was not thrown out of the car and has not broken any bones as claimed in some reports.

Nor did she identify herself as a police officer, the department said in a statement.

Complaint

The woman has since been released from hospital and will make a formal complaint, a police spokeswoman said. According to the Parool, she has a bruised shoulder.

People who are convicted of attacking emergency service workers face tougher penalties under legislation introduced by the current government.

Sports minister Edith Schippers said in a statement the police, justice ministry and Ajax must work together to find out exactly what happened. ‘I assume the appropriate steps will be taken,’ she said.

Deportation

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration PVV, said the players, if found guilty, should be stripped of their Dutch nationality and deported.

The three players, who include the captain of the A1 team, are of Moroccan and Turkish origin, the Parool says.