Eight police officers needed hospital treatment and more than 15 football fans were arrested after violent clashes before Wednesday's Champions League match between Celtic and Ajax in Amsterdam.
A spokesman for Amsterdam police said a large crowd of Celticsupporters turned on a group of plainclothes police officers in Dam Square, the city's historic heart shortly before 6pm local time, about three hours before kick-off in a match won 1-0 by Ajax.
"The officers took quite a beating," said the spokesman Rob van der Veen. "One of the officers was unconscious, another had his nose broken."
Earlier in the day the mayor of Amsterdam issued an emergency order allowing the police to remove people they judged to be a threat to public order.
Dutch media reported that fans attacked the police with thrown bottles and sticks. The news portal nu.nl reported that fans of the Belgian club Anderlecht and followers of Germany's St Pauli were also in the city.
Large numbers of Dinamo Zagreb fans are also in Amsterdam before Thursday's Europa League match against PSV Eindhoven.
Amsterdam Police said it expected the number of arrests to rise during the night and that a final figures would be "high". It is thought that fans from other European clubs were involved, although police said they "had kept themselves covered".
Celtic supporters had been urged by the club to be careful after an attack on Hoops supporters in a city-centre bar on Tuesday night.
Thousands of Celtic supporters flooded into Holland for the Group H game at the Amsterdam Arena.
A statement on the Celtic website said: "Celtic Football Club is urging all supporters in Amsterdam for tonight's Uefa Champions League tie with Ajax to be extra vigilant following an unprovoked attack on Celtic fans last night
"The attack in the city centre by an element of the Ajax support resulted in a number of arrests.
"Celtic are urging all supporters to be extra vigilant in the city centre and at the Amsterdam Arena, and to only stick to the advised areas for safety reasons."
At the pre-match media conference on Tuesday afternoon, the Ajax coach Frank De Boer expressed hope that the tiny percentage of fans he described as "crazy" would not disrupt the game.
Uefa opened disciplinary proceedings against the Dutch club after some of their supporters clashed with police and stewards at Parkhead last month during a match which the home side won 2-1.
The case will be dealt with by UEFA's control and disciplinary panel on November 21.
De Boer admitted that some Ajax fans remain a concern when asked if he was confident of the game passing off trouble-free.
"I am confident in that but you never know," said the former Rangers player.
"There is always some crazy people [who] try to disturb something but hopefully it will not happen."
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