Protesters attack Israel-Norway soccer match throw rocks, fireworks at police
Soccer match closure raises security concerns for Israeli athletes amid protests. Director questions control by violent activists.
Anti-Israel Protesters threw rocks and fireworks at police as they attempted to disrupt an Israel-Norway under 19 soccer match in Skien on Tuesday.
Video posted by pro-Palestinian activists showed protesters clashing with police in riot gear. Demonstrators banged on the gates to the Skagerak Arena while police doused them with pepper spray.View this post on Instagram
Protesters wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags berated the officers and picked up loose gravel to hurl through the gate.
"Norway and Israel played a football match, so how can Russia be boycotted from all sports arenas while Israel is still in every sports scene and Eurovision while committing genocide of the Palestinian people?? Double standards!" Photographer and activist Eyad Al Zaro wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.
The Norwegian Football Federation had decided last Tuesday to close the match to spectators after "an overall assessment of the safety of the players and the public."
Israeli football match security concerns
Med Israel for Fred (MIFF) had initially planned to attend the game with its members before it had been closed to the public. MIFF director Conrad Myrland wrote on Tuesday that one could only wonder what would happen to the Israeli athletes if the protesters had broken in.
"Do you want a country where nationalist and Islamist violent activists get to control who can play football or who can watch football? Or do you want a country where such violent mobs are arrested and condemned?" Myrland wrote on Tuesday.
The Israeli team lost to Norway 2-0, ending its UEFA European Championship Qualifying journey.
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