The 1999 Rotterdam riots refers to serious riots and clashes between Dutch security forces and football hooligans in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

on 26 April 1999.

Riots

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

football club won the Dutch title ( 1998-99 Eredivisie) on 25 April having beaten

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

in a game. In celebration a large street party ceremony of up to 250,000 people took place in Coolsingel in Rotterdam city centre. Trouble from about 100 to 150 youngsters and hooligans soon broke out who clashed with police on Stadsplein. Shortly after, shops and property were smashed in wide-scale

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

in Lijnbaan, with windows of 93 stores smashed. Riot police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. Officers were also forced to open fire, shooting four hooligans. Altogether 16 people were injured, whilst 80 were arrested. It is thought hooligans fired back at police. These were some of the worst instances of hooligan violence in the country.

Aftermath

The violence caused 10 million

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' (" gold penny"). This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Rom ...

s in damages. Furthermore, four people were hospitalised, including a Feyenoord supporter who was shot in the stomach. It was later reported that most of the hooligans were simply opportunistic, with only loose connections to the football club. The riots were yet another troubled event in the lead up of the Netherlands co-hosting

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, coming two years after the infamous Battle of Beverwijk, as well as widescale riots and fighting in Rotterdam during the 1998 Dutch cup final between supporters of

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

and Feyenoord. Furthermore, a friendly match between the Netherlands and Morocco in

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

on 21 April 1999, days before the riots in Rotterdam, involved a group of Moroccan fans invading the pitch and violence between Moroccan youth and police in the city of

. '' Bild Zeitung'', a German tabloid newspaper, made an article at the time asking "Is Holland safe enough for Euro 2000?"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotterdam riots, 1999 1999 crimes in the Netherlands Riots and civil disorder in the Netherlands Association football hooliganism Feyenoord 20th century in Rotterdam

Riots

Aftermath

See also

References