Amsterdam police picked up 281 people who attended an illegal demonstration in support of Palestine on the Dam in the centre of the city on Wednesday night.

The demonstrators, who defied an order to stay away because of the city-wide demonstration ban, began gathering on the Dam from around 6 pm. They had been cleared to hold their protest in the west of the city, outside the centre.

Police then moved in to end the demonstration, putting the protestors in buses and driving them out into the western docks. Footage posted on social media shows riot police hitting one group of demonstrators as they left the bus, and the police have said they are investigating the incident.

Most of those arrested were released but several are thought to remain in police custody.

The demonstration ban, due to expire at midday on Thursday, follows last week’s violence in Amsterdam following the Ajax Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League match.

The police have also said they are looking into how a woman came to receive a serious head wound as they dismantled another pro-Palestine demonstration on Sunday.

“We assumed that the woman had fallen, based on early footage,” the police said on social media. “But new footage would appear to show her being hit with a truncheon. We are looking into this incident.”

Elsewhere it was calm in Amsterdam and there was no repeat of the rioting in the city’s Nieuw-West district earlier in the week.

City mayor Femke Halsema said on Thursday that the ban on demonstrations would be lifted on Thursday lunchtime although the city would remain a “risk zone” until Monday, meaning police can carry out random stop and search operations.