Around 50 people have been arrested after taking part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Amsterdam, defying a ban on protests in the city centre in the wake of last week’s attacks on supporters of Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Police used batons and riot shields to push back a crowd of more than 300 demonstrators that gathered in Dam Square on Sunday lunchtime, waving flags and chanting slogans such as “Free Palestine”. Protesters who ignored the order to leave the square were arrested.

Police drove a section of the crowd back into Nieuwendijk, a narrow shopping street in the corner of Dam Square, as they cleared the area. One woman suffered a head wound when she was knocked to the ground.

One witness, Patryk Kulpok, said an initial gathering of around 50 demonstrators was swelled by onlookers and passers-by who were drawn by the large police presence.

“It was chaos on Nieuwendijk,” said Kulpok, who covered the demonstration on his Polish-language podcast, Polderownia. “There were tourists mixed with demonstrators.

“They ordered people to leave on one side and blocked the exit at the other end. After about 20 minutes they opened a small corridor back onto Damrak.”

“Hit and run”

One of the organisers of the protest, Frank van der Linde, earlier in the day lost a court case against the city council’s decision to ban protests over the weekend, arguing that it was a breach of human rights. The court ruled the ban was legitimate to prevent the violence escalating.

It followed the unrest surrounding the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, when youths on scooters targeted and assaulted Israeli fans in what city mayor Femke Halsema described as “hit and run” attacks, co-ordinated via messaging apps.

Earlier in the day a group of Amsterdam taxi drivers had confronted Maccabi fans outside a casino after a taxi driver was assaulted in the street by visiting supporters.

On Sunday Amsterdam City Council extended the ban until 7am on Thursday. The emergency order also gives police wider stop and search powers and bans people from wearing face coverings.