“Do you also want a flag?” Two teenage boys in dark tracksuits hand out – somewhat uncertainly – small Palestinian flags. They walk through the thick slabs of autumn leaves in Witton Lane Gardens, opposite Villa Park. That is the stadium of the English football club Aston Villa in Birmingham, an old stadium with ornate facades in Victorian style.
It is Thursday, a few hours before the much-discussed Europa League match between Aston Villa and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. The boys had seen on TikTok that a pro-Palestinian protest would take place before the start of the match. “You know, people are dying; we have to speak out,” says Nessinyu Konfor (15). “You know, that truce?” says his brother Assohnyu Konfor (17). “A few days later, Israel killed Palestinians again.”
Last month, Birmingham City Council’s safety advisory group decided that Maccabi supporters would not be welcome at the match on November 6, amid fears of rioting. The Konfor brothers think that is a good thing. Nessinyu: “You heard what they did in Amsterdam? They sang ‘Death to the Arabs’ and they ran through the city like hooligans. And you know, a large part of Birmingham is Muslim. So they are kept out for our safety.” The two brothers are also Muslim.
Riots in Amsterdam
About a year ago Maccabi played against Ajax in Amsterdam. Maccabi supporters were welcome at the time and major riots broke out in the city. There is no video evidence that they sang “Death to the Arabs” in Amsterdam, but it is generally known that the hard core regularly sings variations on it.
NRC reconstructed the riots in Amsterdam. What happened, among other things: the night before the match against Ajax, Maccabi fans assaulted a taxi driver and one pulled a Palestinian flag from a building. Afterwards, and also the night after the match, boys and men in taxis and on scooters chased and abused Maccabi supporters.
The riots in Amsterdam were an important reason for Birmingham to ban Maccabi fans. Almost the entire British House of Commons was against that decision. Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Labour) reacted angrily. He called the decision anti-Semitic and did everything he could to reverse it. That was to no avail.
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Nevertheless, a pro-Palestine protest will take place in front of the stadium on Thursday, organized by various pro-Palestinian organizations. The demonstrators believe that not only Israeli fans should be banned, but that Israel should be expelled from the world football association FIFA. There are stalls where you can buy pro-Palestine accessories, such as a beige Gucci-print scarf with a small Palestinian flag on it for £16.
As soon as it gets dark, around five o’clock, a group of dozens of (mainly) men start waving large Palestinian flags. They shout: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and „Allahu Akbar!” (Arabic for “God is the greatest”).
Livestreaming vloggers
Seven hundred police officers have been deployed for the match. The media are also present in large numbers, including many vloggers who livestream. The journalists are close to the group of demonstrators. Suddenly a demonstrator approaches one of the vloggers menacingly, who is a bit startled. It turns out to be a well-known vlogger with anti-migration views. Another demonstrator immediately intervenes: “He has the right to be here.”
The pro-Palestine group is therefore committed to preventing a situation like that in Amsterdam. The leaders continually emphasize to other demonstrators to remain peaceful. “We are not here to bother people!”
A woman keeps staring angrily at the vlogger. “Why are you so focused on me?” he asks. „Because you’re disgusting!”
Officers try to stop demonstrators.
Photo Hannah Mckay / Reuters
And that’s how it is all evening: there is tension in the air, but things never go wrong. Even though the air is becoming increasingly full of tension. For example, when a woman suddenly walks up to the pro-Palestinian demonstrators with an Israeli flag. The group has now grown a lot bigger and they are holding all kinds of protest signs in the air. She is shouted at, but soon she is taken away by the police, past the entrance of the stadium where the supporters are now trickling in. Rihanna’s ‘If It’s Lovin’ That You Want’ sounds through speakers from behind the fences.
Counter-protest
A little further away there is a much smaller counter-protest going on. The police have designated a basketball cage for this purpose. Behind bars, people wave Israeli flags and hold up signs reading “Keep anti-Semitism out of footballJust outside the cage, incoherent riots keep taking place. A man shouts at another man wearing a Maccabi scarf that he is against genocide. The scarf man shouts that he can decide for himself how he lives his life in his own country (Israel). The other man: “And who gave that country to you?!”
Officers walk to where the demonstrations are and a Maccabi fan allows himself to be photographed by the press photographers present.
Photo Henry Nicholls / AFP, Photo Adam Vaughan / ANP / EPA
The livestream vloggers enjoy it, but the police always arrive just in time. Until around eight o’clock, just before the match starts, something almost goes wrong in a confrontation between Aston Villa fans and the pro-Palestine demonstrators. The fans approach the demonstrators and try to drown them out by singing club songs. A man acts aggressively with a British flag. The police set up a cordon and try to sweep the fans out of the street and into the stadium.
That doesn’t work and the fans suddenly find themselves facing a smaller group of pro-Palestine men at the end of the street. Things are said back and forth like: “Your mother is a whore!” The police just manage to keep them from flying into each other. A tall Aston supporter in a black tracksuit goes wild against a police officer: “It’s your fucking duty to protect your country! We’re coming for a football game!”
Pro-Palestinian protesters awaited Maccabi fans in Birmingham with banners.
Photo Matthew Childs / Reuters
The police arrested six people before the match, half of them for disturbing public order “with a racist basis”. Aston Villa won the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0.
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