Burning cars, devastated cafes, flares against police officers: Before Eintracht Frankfurt’s Champions League game at Napoli, there were serious riots in Naples. Videos showed that hooligans threw objects such as tables, chairs and firecrackers at the emergency services on Wednesday afternoon. A police car was set on fire. According to media reports, Frankfurt Ultras attacked the police officers and carabinieri.
Previously, a few hundred Frankfurters had moved through the city together, but it was initially quiet. The Prefecture of Naples had previously banned fans from Frankfurt from entering the stadium for the game in the evening. Eintracht, outraged by this, waived the contingent of guest tickets and called on their supporters not to come to Naples. Despite the appeal, several hundred Frankfurt fans traveled to Italy.
The fears of the authorities were confirmed on Wednesday afternoon: after a fan march from the port to the city center went largely without incident, the situation escalated before dusk.
Videos showed, among other things, how hooded hooligans devastated the outside area of a bar and threw chairs and tables at the police officers. In the central Piazza del Gesù, the rioters set off flares and also shot them at nearby shops. A police car was set on fire on an access road to the square and burned out.
It took a while before the police seemed to get the situation under control. The emergency services managed to put the ultras in buses and bring them back to their hotel in the waterfront from downtown. The buses were reportedly pelted with stones and bottles by Napoli fans.
“The scenes of the destruction of our historic downtown are unacceptable,” said Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms these unspeakable acts of those responsible, whoever committed them.”