Serbian Hockey Players Attacked in Zagreb

The Serbian portal B92 reports Serbian hockey players had been attacked in Zagreb’s Ban Jelacic Square.

The Serbian hockey players had a day off and used it to walk around Zagreb. They claim to have been attacked by a group of some thirty people, after which the police intervened and brought them safely to their hotel. None of the hockey players were hurt. 

-- We spent an hour in strolling around the city without any problems. As we returned to the hotel, a group of 25 to 30 Dinamo fans in Dinamo and Croatian team jerseys approached us from the back and attacked us, cursing and insulting us on a national basis. We were seven, we stood alongside each other and the fight began – said the Serbian hockey team captain, Nenad Milinkovic.

He also sid that there had been a serious problem when the group was joined by people on the square after a shout “Serbs!”. Then they withdrew to a restaurant where they waited for the police.

Croatian Hockey Alliance spokesman Danijel Jelenek, who spoke with the Serbian delegation told Javno that their hockey players had been given advice not to walk around town with visible markings of their country, but that somebody evidently recognised them at Ban Jelacic Square and, spurred by yesterday’s insult at the game, decided to attack them. Serbian hockey players then fund shelter in a nearby restaurant where they awaited the police.