Qui est derrière ces troubles à l’ordre public ?

Who is behind these disturbances to public order?

Scenes of chaos at the Hamlaoui stadium in Constantine

Serious incidents broke out during the night from Monday to Tuesday at the Hamlaoui stadium in Constantine during the match between the local team, namely CS Constantine and USM Algiers. Hundreds of people destroyed the seats in the stands before throwing them against the police on the pitch. At the final whistle, ”Hooligans” confronted the police in hand-to-hand combat before managing to invade the stadium pitch. A serious movement of panic was created by the unleashed crowd and it’s as safe as can be!
Indeed, a few days before this match, information circulated reporting possible incidents which should take place during the meeting between the local club (CSC) and the visiting team (USM Alger). Pages on social networks have also mentioned these rumors and some Internet users have even warned the troublemakers explaining to them that any excess will be punished.
We do not know if measures would have been taken by the organizers of this match to avoid any excess and to ensure the smooth running of the football match.
From the start of the match, part of the stands where the ”Supporters” of the Constantine club are located launched obscene slogans and threw projectiles onto the pitch. What is abnormal, said a spectator, is that when the home team opened the scoring, the noisy gallery in question broke loose and tried to invade the pitch.
Law enforcement officers present on the pitch intervened, preventing dozens of supporters from entering the pitch. A few moments later, the stadium track was bombarded by the seats in the stands, even pushing back the police who found no other way than to retreat onto the pitch.
This state of affairs forced the young referee to interrupt the game twice as a safety measure. Despite the calls for calm from a few wise men and the composure of the police, the situation degenerated and nothing was able to calm the hundreds of these pumped-up “supporters” who find themselves in a state of hysterical.
Horrible images broadcast live on television on social networks show law enforcement officers attacked, beaten and attacked with sticks. The situation deteriorated even further when the match referee blew the whistle for the end of the match. The police were overwhelmed and the crowd managed to invade the field. The twenty-two players and managers who were on the handrail fled to try to escape the lynching. The raging crowd broke everything in its path, the nets of the woods were torn and even one of the three posts was uprooted. In the evening, these violent images were broadcast on the screens of several foreign televisions.
The Hamlaoui stadium in Constantine has already experienced similar violence in the past but it seems that nothing has been done to stop this violence in our stadiums. According to some Constantine residents who have contacted the management, this violence is extra-sporting and has nothing to do with the football match. Our interlocutors indicated that the troublemakers came especially to do battle with the police and to cause damage. “The State must open an investigation to identify not only the ‘thugs’ but also arrest the ‘sponsors’ so that they can answer for their actions before the courts,” they added. The latter also called on the country’s high authorities to intervene in order to ensure security in the stadiums and to prohibit, for the moment, the movement of supporters into opposing stadiums. We have not been able to know the number of injured in the ranks of the public order services and nor the arrests that have been made. We will come back to this. Moncef Redha