Macron to attend France-Israel football match in Paris as a gesture of 'fraternity'

Emmanuel Macron will attend the France-Israel football match at the Stade de France on Thursday in a gesture of "fraternity and solidarity", after attacks on Jewish supporters in Amsterdam last week.

- Kim Willsher Paris Senay Boztas Amsterdam Oliver Holmes

Thousands of extra police will be on duty for the Uefa Nations League match taking place against a backdrop of high tension caused by the conflict in Gaza.

The Elysee said the president's presence aimed to "show his entire and full support for the French team as he does every match," but also "send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable acts of antisemitism that followed the match in Amsterdam".

Authorities in the Netherlands are investigating how Israeli football hooliganism, antisemitism and local distress about the war in Gaza created a tinderbox situation that exploded into violence on Amsterdam's streets.

The city's police chief, Peter Holla, said there had been "incidents on both sides", starting on Wednesday night when Maccabi Tel Aviv fans tore down a Palestinian flag from the facade of a building in the city centre, burned another and destroyed a taxi.