October 22 – Six police officers were injured after FC Novi Pazar ultras attacked law enforcement officers before the Serbian league match against Partizan.
The home fans were protesting outside the Novi Pazar City Stadium over the punishment the club received from the Serbian Football Federation (FFS) forcing them to play two matches in front of empty stands.
The sanction was issued following disturbances during the game against Radnicki Kragujevac in the last round of the local championship.
Despite the ban, the Novi Pazar ultras gathered in front of the stadium and angrily confronted the police officers responsible for maintaining public order.
Firecrackers were thrown into the stadium’s stands from the street, forcing referee Miloš Milanović to stop the game in the fourth minute, taking the players off the field.
After consultation with the match delegate Vuk Blećić, and with the representatives of the clubs in charge of security, the referee decided to return the teams to the field.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dacic said that ten of the hooligans had been arrested.
“Today in Novi Pazar, there was a drastic violation of public order and peace and an attack on police officers. At the beginning of the match between Novi Pazar and Partizan, a group of so-called Ekstremi and Torcida Sandžak fans (about 120 of them) in Borisa Kidriča Street, at about 70 meters from the western stand of the stadium, using cannon shots, firecrackers, smoke bombs, as well as objects (bricks and stones) aimed at police officers who were in the cordon,” said Dadic.
“All those who participated in the attack on the police and violation of public order will be arrested and handed over to the prosecutor’s office. Everyone must be held accountable because an attack on the police is an attack on the state. The police have already started arrests, ten people have been arrested so far. At the locations where the police officers were attacked, five passenger vehicles have been damaged so far.”
Despite the disturbances in front of the stadium, the match was completed with Partizan winning 4-3.
Contact the writer of this story, Aleksander Krassimirov, at moc.l1729582721labto1729582721ofdlr1729582721owedi1729582721sni@o1729582721fni1729582721