Posted on 01/15/2007 1:29:48 AM PST by Aussie Dasher
TENNIS fans told today of Croatian and Serbian supporters punching and kicking each other during a clash at the Australian Open, but also accused police of targeting ethnic groups.
Up to 150 people were ejected from the showpiece tournament in Melbourne today after clashes between Croatian and Serbian fans wearing national colours.
Dozens of police moved into the concourse area to break up the fight.
Five Croatian fans later slammed the violence as "disgusting''.
Marina, 19, Danijela, 19, Ivana, 17, Kristina, 16 and Marija, 20, all from Melbourne, who did not wish to use their last names, said they were watching Croatian star Mario Ancic on court three with other supporters when they heard a Serbian crowd outside chanting abuse at them.
They said the majority of the Croatian group they were with ran outside to confront the Serbian fans.
"They all went outside the court, it started with just abusing each other verbally and then it got into an actual fight,'' Marina said.
They saw people punching and kicking each other and accused the Serbian supporters of attacking the Croatians with flag poles.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Ahhhh...European Socialist lurve....
Yugoslavia was far more stable.
Bring back the Russian Bear.
/cbs
Note;
Tennis gets my blood boiling also.
I find tennis a damn good excuse for a snooze... :-)
Mostly late teens and early twenties from what I saw.
So the fighters did ethnic stereotyping, but the police cannot notice this and react accordingly??
Tennis Hooligans ... who knew
This ain't soccer guys!
If you watch a few Davis Cup matches involving Eastern Europeans or South Americans, you will see plenty of tennis crazies.
Hooliganism. It's not just for soccer anymore.
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