Police detain dozens of Croatian soccer fans in Serbia

The Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said the police stopped more than 400 Croatian fans and that during the search of their cars the officers discovered a significant number of wooden and metal bars, a few axes and torches, along with a small amount of narcotics.

If convicted, they face a 30-60-day of imprisonment, the minister said.

Several hundred supporters of  the Hajduk FC from the Croatian coastal town of Split stopped on the part of the motorway near Belgrade and some of them  robbed the petrol station , taking almost everything from the Mol station’s shop, rolled over garbage bins and containers, and then wrote graffiti that included the symbols of Croatia’s Nazi puppet state during the World War II.

The detained fans were taken into two police stations, one in a Belgrade suburb of Grocka and the other in the southern city of Nis.

“Any rampage and wild behaviour which upset Serbia’s citizens and cause them material damage or endanger their safety will be severely punished,” Stefanovic said, warning both locals and foreigners “to obey Serbia’s regulations and laws.”