Police lacked information about Croatian hooligans, says Czech interior minister

The interior minister, Ivan Langer, says Czech police did not have sufficient advance information about hooligan fans of the Croatian football club Dinamo Zagreb who rioted in Prague on Thursday. Reacting to criticism that Czech police did not handle the situation well, Mr Langer said the violence ahead of a game between Dinamo and Sparta Prague showed the need for greater co-ordination with police in other countries. He said co-operation was harder in the case of Croatia because it is not part of the Schengen border-free zone. Mr Langer said the Czech police had adopted the correct tactic of trying to contain the trouble-makers and not intervening directly. Around 200 Dinamo fans threw bottles and cobblestones and made the Hitler salute on Prague’s Old Town Square, before later attacking police who were monitoring their route to Sparta’s stadium.

Author: Ian Willoughby