Football fans clashed with Albanian police, twelve Dutchmen arrested | NOW

In the Albanian capital Tirana, football supporters clashed with the police on the night before the Conference League final between Feyenoord and AS Roma. Twelve Dutch and 48 Italian fans have been arrested, the Albanian authorities report. Ten officers were injured and a police car was damaged.

There have been several incidents between Dutch supporters and the police, who also used tear gas. Police say they wanted to prevent a Dutch group from confronting Italian fans. The officers were pelted with rocks and bottles. After that, the police also clashed with a group of Roma fans.

According to Albanian Daily News and Italian media were at least two hundred Feyenoord players involved in a fight with the police. That was near the Air Albania stadium, where Feyenoord will play against AS Roma on Wednesday evening.

Several drunk Dutch football fans had a fight with a 45-year-old Albanian at a cafe, learns Albanian Daily News from the police. The man was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

A photo posted by the news site shows a person lying on a terrace on the floor, with overturned chairs and tables next to him. According to the Albanian medium, eight Dutch people have been arrested for this, but the Italian news agency ANSA reports that they were stopped alone.

Images of riots between football fans and the police are also shared on social media, but it is unclear whether these are real images.

Aboutaleb calls arrests inevitable

The mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb, himself in Tirana, said earlier on Tuesday to NPO Radio 1 that about seven arrests have been made in the Albanian capital. “Possibly because of violence. We still have to find out exactly.” He called the arrests “inevitable” given the fans’ alcohol consumption.

According to the authorities, an estimated 50,000 people, including between 15,000 and 20,000 Dutch, will travel to Tirana for the match.

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