Because of fansč Torcide and Armade are closed entrances to all rest stops on the highway around Rijeka. We were looking for a gas station because we ran out of gas, we are hungry, hungry and we can’t go to the toilet, explained the teacher who was in an awkward situation because of the storm.
Before Sunday’s match between Hajduk and Istra in Pula, Torcida and Armada fought. Photos showing fans with bloody T-shirts and phantoms on their heads jumping over the fence on the highway and running away spread across social networks.
– The first rest stop we could go to was Tuhobi, in the direction of Zagreb, where we were traveling. We waited in line for 20 minutes to pay for fuel, and within 10 minutes a mass of visibly aggressive Torcida fans gathered. They told us not to film and shouted: ‘Why do these purgers want some problems?’. We felt threatened while they were measuring our registration marks – said the teacher.
Police Department Primorsko-Goranska announced that according to current information, one person was seriously injured in the fight, while a minor who did not participate in the fight was slightly injured. The police state that so far 36 Croatian citizens, participants in the fight, who were detained at the scene of the incident, have been questioned, and all of them were released after questioning, within the legal deadline. The criminal investigation continues, as does the identification of other participants in the fight.
Lawyer Mario Medak believes that the incidents will unfortunately be repeated.
– Verbal violence to which we are exposed every day, and even at a time when politicians should be resting from hard work, certainly does not have a positive effect. The theses about some kind of conflict and animosity of the north, south, east… Riječ is about a part of the fandom subculture that is not specific to Croatia, but occurs everywhere in the world. It is a big problem for us that this often happens in places where the safety of all road users is threatened. That’s a big problem. Stricter penalties will not help here. Better cooperation between club administrations, the police and fan groups would certainly help with the organization of the trip – said Medak.