Court in the city of Split ordered on Monday a month-long remand for two 25-year-old attackers arrested for assaulting Serbian water polo players on the city's waterfront on Saturday. The third arrested attacker, a 23-year-old, was released awaiting trial.

All three are suspected for verbally and physically attacking three professional water polo players from the Belgrade-based Crvena Zvezda water polo club, who were on visit to the city for a regional league game against the local Mornar water polo club.

The three assailants will be charged with counts of attempt to cause serious bodily harm and robbery, as during the attack they stole a sport jersey from one of the sportsmen.

On Saturday at about 1:30 pm, the assailants attacked three visiting athletes in after spotting them wearing club jerseys with Crvena Zvezda logos in a cafe on the city’s busy Adriatic waterfront.

In an attempt to take away their club colours, the hooligans armed with bats physically attacked the sportsmen. The attackers allegedly pulled out a knife and tried to force one of the players to hand over his club shirt, which, after he escaped by jumping into the shallow sea water just off the waterfront, he eventually did.

The Split prosecutor’s office said that the motive for the attack was “exceptional ethnic intolerance,” as the attack, filmed in part on video by bystanders, was accompanied by ethnic slurs.

The stolen shirt, estimated to be worth 1,000 kuna (€135), was later found in a police search of the belongings of the arrested 25-year-old. Another two assailants are still at large.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic condemned the incident and said he hoped the hooligans arrested would be processed and sanctioned appropriately.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.