140 soccer fans arrested in Amsterdam

THE HAGUE: More than 140 football fans, mainly Juventus supporters, were arrested for possession of dangerous objects ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg between the Italian champions and Ajax in Amsterdam, Dutch police said.

Two groups were stopped by authorities, with 46 supporters apprehended at a metro station before another 61 arrests were made at the Johan Cruyff Arena. Photos of a confiscated knife, fireworks, pepper spray, flares, a hammer and a baton were handed out in a press release by law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands.

Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini earlier said on Facebook that 120 Juve fans had been arrested but the number had not been verified. Over 30 more arrests were made near an entrance to the stadium for home supporters after fans set off fireworks, threw cobblestones and smashed windows, the Dutch news agency ANP reported.