Amsterdam mayor ‘buried under threats’ after Ajax party plan

Photo: DutchNews.nl

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema says she had been ‘buried under threats’ after the city council said that Ajax cannot celebrate their probable victory in the Eredivisie on the Museumplein.

With two games to go, Ajax are five points clear of PSV in the league, and could take the title on Wednesday when they meet Heerenveen. But the council has now said the celebrations will have to take place in the stadium, rather than the city centre.

‘Since we put out this message, I have been personally buried under threats and swearing,’ Halsema said on Instagram. ‘I rarely react to these things, but now I would ask urgently “restrain yourselves”.’

Officials had contacted ‘numerous companies’ in an effort to make celebrations on the Museumplein possible but ‘together with Ajax we have had to conclude that we cannot organise this safely’, she said.

Justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz has also waded into the row, describing the ‘mud’ thrown at Halsema as ‘unworthy of our club’.

‘The mayor must put the safety of Ajax fans and all Amsterdammers first, and that should be respected,’ she said.

In 2019, 100,000 people packed into the area to celebrate Ajax’s league win after Halsema reinstated the Museumplein festivities.

Penalty

Meanwhile, the Dutch football association KNVB has reportedly said that Sunday’s controversial penalty in the dying minutes of the PSV Feyenoord tie, which gave Feyenoord the draw, should not have been awarded.

Without the penalty, PSV would have narrowed the gap on Ajax to three points, and the championship would still have been wide open.