Aston Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv protests live: Marches to be held after political fallout over Israeli club’s fans

I’m on Trinity Road, which runs alongside Villa Park, the location for tonight’s game between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv.I’d say around 300 pro-Palestine protesters, many waving Palestine flags, have gathered outside the Trinity Road Stand.

Music is being played with the occasional chant of ‘Free Palestine’. Placards say ‘Stop starving Gaza’ and ‘stop arming Israel’.

This is being organised by a collection of campaign groups, with calls for the game not to go-ahead amid the situation in Gaza.

As “Free, Free Palestine” chants ring around Villa Park, there are counter-protestors with Israel flags calling for “anti-Semitism” to be “kicked out”.

Research by Kick It Out Israel found that racist chanting by Israeli football fans grew rapidly over the last year, with Maccabi Tel Aviv fans the most likely to engage in such behaviour.

It found a record total of 367 incidents of racist chanting at Israeli Premier League games in 2024-25, a 67 per cent increase on the previous season, with 118 of those incidents concerning Maccabi supporters.

The most commonly recorded chant was “Let the IDF win, fuck the Arabs”, which fans were also filmed singing during the fan violence at the Ajax match in Amsterdam last year.

The Birmingham City SAG’s decision to ban Maccabi fans from the game at Villa Park tonight – describing the fixture as “high risk” – reportedly took into account such “racist taunts”, according to The Guardian.

Maccabi Tel Aviv manager Zarko Lazetic said it was sad his side will have no supporters in the stadium but both he and Aston Villa manger Unai Emery avoided non-football topics in their pre-match press conferences.

Journalists were told not to ask political questions ahead of speaking to Emery, while Lazetic said: “Of course [it will be sad]. Unfair or fair, in the world I am not one to judge that but on the pitch it is 11 against 11 and we will try to do our best.”

Aston Villa fans have been warned about displaying any political images, flags or banners ahead of the highly-charged event. Uefa rules do not allow political messaging at competitions the body oversees.

West Midlands Police announced on Wednesday night that it will be using Section 60 powers – the ability to “stop and search people without the need to have reasonable grounds” – throughout Thursday.

It said: “We will have more than 700 officers keeping the public safe and arresting anyone who engages in crime or disorder.”

The Section 60 powers will be in place over a large area of central Birmingham from 12pm Thursday until 3am Friday.

The force added: “People not attending the event should expect significant disruption to the roads in the area on the evening, and we’d urge people to avoid the area where possible.”

Amsterdam’s police chief said Maccabi supporters attacked a taxi and set a Palestinian flag on fire the day before the match.

On match day more of the club’s fans were filmed tearing down Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Palestinian slogans. Police escorted them into the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Disorder escalated during the match, with taxi drivers attacking a group of fans; one video verified by Reuters appeared to show a car mounting a pavement and run over a Maccabi supporter.

Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema said that “anti-Semitic hit-and-run squads” evaded police and attacked supporters across the city.

Dutch police arrested more than 60 people, with five imprisoned.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s last Europa League game was on 24 September against Greek side PAOK in Thessaloniki, Greece.

About 120 Maccabi fans attended that game and were held behind a police cordon before entering the stadium.

It said a “toxic atmosphere” had put the safety of fans wishing to attend “very much in doubt”.

It continued: “The wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount and from hard lessons learned, we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context.

“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”

Starmer wrote on X: “This is the wrong decision. We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets.

“The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.”