According to Dutch media reports, officials wanted to move fans towards the fan zone. There, as can be seen in other pictures, the fans tore down barriers and there was a confrontation with the officials.
The director of the Go Ahead Eagles, Jan Willem van Dop, said that the police operation came about because there were fans on the buses without tickets, the newspaper De Stentor reported. However, people without tickets should not come to the stadium. “Rules are rules and that is handled well here,” he said.
Out of concern about riots, the mayor of Deventer, Ron König, had already issued a ban on Stuttgart fans entering the city center in the afternoon. The reason was that, according to police information, there was a risk of serious disruption to public safety.
“Our starting point is that we want to organize the Europa League games in Deventer in a hospitable, comfortable and safe way,” explained the mayor. “However, it now turns out that some people have completely different ideas about it. We won’t let this ruin a wonderful football festival. In the interest of the safety of real football fans, residents and entrepreneurs, I have therefore taken this measure.”