2023-10-06 15:59:15
Conference League
“Employees mistreated” – police arrest two football players
Two Legia Warsaw professionals are arrested after the game in Alkmaar. Even Poland’s Prime Minister reacted the next day and the Dutch ambassador was summoned.
Published6. October 2023, 5:59 p.m
The game between Warsaw and Alkmaar is something to talk about.
IMAGO/ANP
There were riots before and after the game.
IMAGO/ANP
The two Legia players, Josué Pesqueira and Radovan Pankov, were arrested in the northern Dutch city following the game on Thursday evening.
IMAGO/ANP
On Thursday Legia Warsaw lost 0-1 at AZ Alkmaar in the Conference League.
Things escalated after the game.
Two Warsaw professionals were arrested.
Legia Warsaw’s game at AZ Alkmaar (0-1) in the Conference League has repercussions at the highest political level after riots and two arrests. After the two visiting professionals were said to have been taken into custody, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki intervened. The country also summoned the Dutch ambassador to the Foreign Ministry on Saturday.
Legia’s president and owner Dariusz Mioduski said after returning to Warsaw on Friday that the incident was an “absolute scandal”. In the afternoon, the judiciary in Alkmaar finally clarified what the two arrested players were accused of.
“It was the players who were violent”
“You mistreated employees of AZ Alkmaar,” explained senior public prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer. The decision to arrest her was made after careful consideration. According to the judiciary, the club employees had to receive medical treatment after the attack. In a joint statement, the public prosecutor, police and city emphasized: “It was the players who were violent. Therefore, it was decided to arrest her.”
The two Legia players, Josué Pesqueira and Radovan Pankov, were arrested in the northern Dutch city following the game on Thursday evening. Warsaw lost the game 0-1. According to the authorities, the players’ bus was initially unable to leave the parking lot for security reasons as the fans from Poland still had to leave the stadium. “Some players and officials apparently did not agree with this and became violent,” the statement said.
Politics gets involved
The matter was also discussed on the sidelines of the informal EU summit in Granada, Spain. According to his own information on Facebook, Poland’s Prime Minister Morawiecki personally spoke there with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte about the incident. “I expressed my strong protest against the brutal behavior of the Dutch police against the players and fans of Legia,” he wrote and explained that Rutte had promised a quick resolution of the incident.
Morawiecki had previously written via X, formerly Twitter, that he had instructed the Polish Foreign Ministry to take urgent diplomatic steps to verify the night’s events. There is currently an election campaign in Poland. The country will elect a new parliament on October 15th.
There were already riots before the game
Polish broadcaster TVP Sport also reported that Legia’s club president and owner Dariusz Mioduski was said to have been hit in the face by a shield. “I have never experienced our players, our staff and board members being attacked by security guards and the police,” he said in the Polish capital.
The Dutch police rejected the allegations that they had intervened too harshly. Legia Warsaw fans stormed the entrance gates in advance and attacked stewards and police. According to information, one police officer lost consciousness and two others were slightly injured. A number of fans entered the stadium without tickets and without controls.
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(nih/dpa)
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