No AZ supporters will be allowed in tomorrow’s match against NEC in the stadium in Nijmegen. The triangle in that city has decided this after the disturbances in the Alkmaar stadium last Thursday, a spokesperson reports to NH. No one has yet been arrested for the riots and the perpetrators could travel to the match.
Mayor Hubert Bruls, in consultation with the Public Prosecution Service and the police, came to the decision to ban away supporters, after AZ hooligans attacked fans of West Ham United in the Alkmaar stadium. have been attacked in the Conference League semi-finals.
“Because in this short term it has not yet been possible to prosecute supporters who misbehaved during that match, there is no clarity about the intentions of these supporters and these supporters could also travel to Nijmegen for the match against NEC”, the mayor writes in a press release.
Due to the ‘low threshold of the disturbances in Alkmaar’, there is a great fear of a recurrence in Nijmegen. “The admission of these supporters is therefore a major risk to the safety of well-intentioned supporters.” The mayor says he regrets that it is necessary to take this measure.
“We will soon publish images of suspects”
“Because this means that the many good ones have to suffer from the bad guys. In principle, Nijmegen is in favor of admitting as many (away) supporters as possible. The fact that the incidents took place so shortly before this match made it no longer possible to take other appropriate measures .”
NEC says in a response: “Of course there is always intensive contact between clubs prior to competitions. We aim for a good competition and ditto organization”, a spokesperson responds.
So no one has yet been arrested for the riots, but the images from the stadium are in. That is what a spokesman said to NH today. Perpetrators may be identified on that basis. “This cannot be done without consequences.”
Reaction AZ about purchased tickets
Supporters who have bought a ticket will receive a personal message, according to AZ. Their site states: “The events and their consequences are unfortunately a blot on this week for our club and the supporters. We ask our supporters to accept this imposed decision as well. And let’s use the coming period to explore the positive sides of the overwhelmingly great support throughout this season”
The police team is currently looking for people on suspicion of public violence and vandalism. “Although a large part of the suspects had pulled a hood over their face or had other facial coverings, the police are happy with all the images that have been shared so far. We expect to make images of the suspects public soon. Suspects who want to prevent that have the opportunity to report to the police.”
The fact that no one was arrested in the stadium itself on Ascension Day raises the necessary questions. A spokesman says this is due to the fact that riot police and police gave ‘priority to maintaining public order and safety’.