After their latest match was cancelled due to police strikes, supporters of Ajax Football Club in Amsterdam have planned a demonstration to protest against the police action that is disrupting their football matches. Ajax fans have made the call to gather on Leidseplein in the Dutch capital on Sunday, September 15 at 2.30pm - when their match against Utrecht was supposed to be taking place.
At the beginning of the week, Amsterdam city authorities made the decision to cancel the football match between Ajax and FC Utrecht that was set to take place this Sunday, as the Dutch police would not be present due to planned strikes for the extension of the early retirement scheme. This is the second Ajax match to be cancelled this season due to police strikes.
The football match between Feyenoord and Ajax that was meant to take place on September 1 in Rotterdam was also cancelled due to strike action by police. This means that while most Eredivisie clubs have played four matches this season so far, Ajax has only played two. "The safety of the players, supporters and public order in the city cannot be guaranteed without the important efforts of the police," wrote the city’s deputy mayor in a joint statement with the district police chief and prosecutor’s office.
In a statement on Instagram by Ajax supporter clubs AFCA and F-side, there is a call for fans to gather on Leidseplein in Amsterdam at the time when the match was originally scheduled. "We, Ajax supporters, are completely fed up with the fact that Ajax matches are continuously targeted by these kinds of police actions," said AFCA and F-side in the statement.
"Now that we will not be in the stadium at 2.30pm on Sunday, we all have a free agenda at this time," they wrote. "We can make our voices heard against the ongoing police strikes during Ajax matches." It is not yet known whether future Ajax matches will also be affected.
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