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Several people were arrested at a soccer match in the United Kingdom involving the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli fans of the team were banned from attending the match due to security concerns, but riots still broke out regardless, with anti-Israel protesters nearby.
British police said six people were arrested on Thursday ahead of the Israeli team’s match against Aston Villa in a Europa League match.
Around 200 protesters gathered near a park near Aston Villa Park’s Trinity Road stand. Those protesters included members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, according to the Associated Press. Some pro-Israel protesters were also seen.
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An anti-Israel protester demonstrates outside Villa Park ahead of Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Europa League soccer match on November 6, 2025 in Birmingham, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Palestinian flags and banners calling for a boycott of Israel were seen on the ground near Trinity Road amid pro-Gaza chants.
West Midlands Police reportedly said a 21-year-old man was arrested for failing to comply with an order to remove a face mask, a 17-year-old man was arrested for defying a dispersal order and three others were arrested for racially aggravated offenses and another for breach of the peace.
Police officers briefly formed a cordon to prevent a wave of protesters after an Israeli flag was allegedly waved by a passerby.
Five vehicles were driven past the ground before kick-off, with electronic billboards displaying messages opposing anti-Semitism.
One of the messages, next to a Star of David, read “Ban hate, not fans”, while another had a quote from French football legend Thierry Henry, who said football is not about goals, but about bringing people together.
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A fan is escorted away by members of the police as she holds the national flag of Israel outside the stadium ahead of the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Aston Villa FC and Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC at Villa Park on November 6, 2025 in Birmingham, England. (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
The tense atmosphere outside the group followed Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group’s decision last month to ban visiting fans from attending the match. The decision was widely criticized, including from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and prompted Maccabi to say that their fans would not travel to the match.
The ban came at a time of heightened concerns about anti-Semitism in Britain following a deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester earlier this month and calls by Palestinians and their supporters for a sports boycott of Israel over the war against Hamas in Gaza.
West Midlands Police said it had deemed the match high-risk “based on current intelligence and past incidents,” including violence and hate crimes that occurred when Maccabi Tel Aviv played Ajax in Amsterdam last season.
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC supporters were reportedly the target of violence in Amsterdam before and during the football team’s match against Ajax last year. More than a dozen people have already been charged in connection with the violence and several have already been sentenced following a series of violent incidents overnight.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have been a common fixture among Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in 2025.
A member of the public holds a protest sign reading ‘Football should not cover up genocide’ outside the stadium ahead of the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Aston Villa FC and Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC at Villa Park on November 6, 2025 in Birmingham, England. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
The match against Aston Villa will be the team’s first away game in the Europa League since pro-Palestinian protests took place at the stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece, against PAOK on September 24. Around 120 fans of the Israeli club traveled to Greece for that match and were held behind a police cordon before entering the venue.
