Police arrest a dozen football fans before and after Dinamo-AEK match

NEWS 16.08.202308:10
Marko Lukunic / Pixsell

Twelve persons were arrested before and during a high-risk football match between Dinamo Zagreb and AEK Athens in Zagreb on Tuesday night, which was attended by 13,000 spectators, the Ministry of the Interior said in a Twitter post.

The fans were arrested for possession of drugs, pyrotechnics and alcohol and for trying to enter the stadium without a ticket, the ministry said after the match, which started at 8 p.m. in the city’s Maksimir stadium and ended with AEK defeating Dinamo 2-1.

There were no reports of serious security incidents.

The heavily policed UEFA Champions League third-qualifying-round match was held after last week the first match of the third qualifying round, which was to have been held in Athens on 8 August, was moved to 19 August due to fan violence that broke out in the night between 7 and 8 August and in which an AEK supporter was killed.

105 men, including 98 Dinamo supporters, arrested after the clashes outside the AEK stadium in the Athens suburb of Nea Filadelfeia, have been remanded in custody in Greece for involvement in the violence.

Three Greek nationals, an Albanian and a Croat are suspected of the murder of the AEK supporter.

Under a UEFA decision, the sale of tickets to supporters of AEK Athens for the Zagreb match was banned.

The head of the Zagreb Police Department, Marko Rašić, said in an interview with the HTV public broadcaster on Monday evening that four Greek police officers, trained to work with sport fans, have arrived in Zagreb.

“I hope the Police Directorate will allow our police officers to go to Greece if they request it,” he said.