Amsterdam city officials failed to communicate clearly during the night of violence involving Maccabi Tel Aviv football supporters last November, creating space for panic, misinformation and inflammatory rumours, a new report has concluded.

The report by the Institute for Security and Crisis Management (COT), found that although the mayor, police and public prosecution office could not realistically have prevented the violence, they left a communication vacuum during the night, allowing speculation and disinformation to spread unchecked.

The report describes a 90-minute period of intense violence during which people who were perceived to be Jewish, Israeli or Maccabi supporters were attacked. Even after the incidents had ended, false reports continued to circulate on social media, including claims of hostages, a manhunt for Jews and pogroms.

“The authorities communicated very little or nothing during the night,” the report states. “This was a deliberate decision.”

City officials have said they lacked verified information and did not want to add to the rumours. But the lack of information led to panic among Maccabi fans and only added the misinformation which was circulating by then, the report said.

These fears, the report said, contrasted with police assessments at the time that the situation in the city was calming down.

The city issued only two updates in the hours following the unrest. At 1:40 am police gave a routine statement on their deployment around the match. At 9 am the city released a 254-word statement condemning the violence as “beyond all limits and in no way defensible.”

Further questions had to wait until a press conference 3.5 hours later, as “the facts were still being established.”

Meanwhile, far right leader Geert Wilders spoke of the “Jew hunt”, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised evacuation flights, and Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof issued a statement.

“The situation in Amsterdam set off a chain reaction in which a mix of real and false reports, even in the days afterwards, continued to fuel a sense of insecurity,” the report said.

Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema said in a briefing to the city council that commenting too quickly could increase unrest and confusion. “Fact-finding must always come before informing the public, especially when there are widespread rumours and political misinformation,” she said.

Nevertheless, the report’s authors have urged local governments to prioritise risk reduction over an information-driven approach.

Opinions

An earlier report about the police reaction to the violence criticised the “speed with which everyone expressed an opinion in the aftermath of the events.”

“Politicians, administrators and the media immediately jumped to conclusions, without having any insight into exactly what had occurred,” that report said. “Such judgements, expressed before the facts were known, had an influence on sentiment in society and directly affected the police officers who were on the streets.”