The Stockholm derby had a very violent ending.
Supporters threw flares, bangers and stormed the pitch – and the police are now concerned about developments among the hooligans.
– We see a proper rejuvenation of these individuals who mess up, says commanding officer Tobias Lövström.
Djurgården defeated AIK 1-0, but the headlines have come to be about something else. Even before the derby, the police had to deal with rowdy AIK supporters who marched from Medborgarplatsen to Tele2 Arena – framed by a couple of fights and pyrotechnics.
The police knew due to the table situation and an internal dissatisfaction with the club’s CEO, who has now also left his job, that the atmosphere could become worse than usual.
– We had indications that people were simply upset, says Tobias Lövström, head of command at the Police.
“A spark”
Djurgården decided late and two AIK players each received a red card in the final stages of the match.
– As we understand it, it was a spark for what happened later in the stands, says Lövström.
AIK supporters started throwing pyrotechnics onto the pitch and a couple of upset fans also managed to get down on the grass.
– We judged that security guards and organizers could not handle it themselves, so we stepped in with our staff, both with dog handlers and with uniformed police, and pushed back the individuals who entered the playing field, says the commanding officer.
Violent riots
The police have subsequently classified what happened as two cases of violent riots. Together with prosecutors, additional criminal classifications must be developed. According to Tobias Lövström, it will be about violations of the law on flammable objects, violations of the order law and several cases of crimes against officials.
At the moment, no one has been arrested.
– These individuals that we have seen so far have masked themselves properly and put on clothes that make it very difficult for us to identify them. We are now going through massive amounts of image material to see if we can identify anyone, says Lövström.
The fact that perpetrators of violence could not be arrested on the spot is mainly about security.
– Entering a stand can be dangerous for both staff and supporters. Even when we support it is something that we avoid doing. It is difficult here and there if you do not succeed in distinguishing the individuals.
“Disturbing development”
To deal with the problem, the police, together with the organizer, mainly try to work preventively by excluding individuals who should not be at the matches – because once they are there, they are difficult to stop.
Tobias Lövström believes that we are working in the right direction but that there are still things to improve.
– We need to work with young people. We’re seeing a real rejuvenation of these individuals messing around during the games. We need to get to the bottom of it. It is a worrying development as it is right now, he says.