Seventeen police officers were injured and more than fifty people were detained following a disturbance between fans of the Hajduk Split football club and the police following the game in which Dinamo Zagreb defeated the hosts, as officially announced.
The clashes began shortly after the final whistle of the match, won 1-0 on Wednesday night, in Split, by Dinamo, in the semi-finals of the Croatian Cup. According to the police statement, 27 thousand people were in the stands, a thousand of them Dinamo fans.
Several hundred Hajduk Split ‘ultras’ invaded the pitch to confront Dinamo players and fans, according to police, who cornered them in the stands, where they ripped off the seats and threw them towards police forces. Thus, Dinamo players had to take shelter in the locker room.
Stand up Purgers and let’s fill Maksimir on Sunday because these guys deserve it! 🦁💙
📸 Pixsell pic.twitter.com/sfHTAyl60b
— GNK Dinamo (@gnkdinamo) April 4, 2024
Later, in the streets around the stadium, “groups attacked the police several times, throwing flares, bottles, stones and other objects”, according to the statement, adding that three police officers had to be hospitalized, one of them with serious injuries. A police vehicle was damaged and 54 people were detained.
“Nothing justifies violence… I regret these scenes and hope to never see them again in our city,” Split Mayor Ivica Puljak wrote on Facebook.
Croatia is known for its national team, runner-up in the world in 2018 and third in the 2022 World Cup, but also for its hooligans.
Among them, Dinamo Zagreb’s ultras, the ‘Bad Blue Boys’, and Hajduk Split’s ‘Torcida’ are the best known. Matches between the two rival clubs, in the ‘Vjecni derbi’ (Eternal Derby), are always high risk.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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