Brawl Outside "Jane Sandanski": According to the Interior Ministry, a Small Group From "Family" Attacked Rabotnički Fans With Pyrotechnics, One in Hospital, One Detained

At the Jane Sandanski sports center in Aerodrom on October 31, the basketball players weren't the main event. At around 18:55, the Skopje Interior Affairs Sector received a report of a physical clash on the boulevard outside the arena, between fans of MZT Skopje and Rabotnički.

The Interior Ministry's version is fairly clear. Around 50 KK Rabotnički fans were waiting to enter the game. Several members of the group "Family" were moving from Vasko Karangeleski Street toward the arena. A smaller group among them lit pyrotechnics, approached and physically attacked them, after which the participants scattered in different directions.

The outcome so far is one injured person, taken by emergency ambulance to the St. Naum Ohridski city hospital, and one detained person. Footage from the scene shows a man lying on the road. Unofficially there is also talk of bladed weapons, but that isn't in the official police version. How badly the man is hurt has not been disclosed.

The detail that makes this story different is the schedule. MZT Skopje wasn't playing that night: Rabotnički had a game against Skopje. So, according to the Interior Ministry, one side was waiting to go in to watch basketball, and the other arrived from a different street with lit pyrotechnics. That doesn't look like an incident that flared up in the stands. It looks like a group that came with a purpose.

The institutions come into it right after that. The rivalry between these two groups is no secret to anyone, and on security along the boulevard the on-the-scene reports don't agree: one says there wasn't any, another says it had been reinforced. If it was reinforced, how did lit pyrotechnics reach the people outside the arena? And how did the "several members" of the police description shrink to one detained person? The footage exists. Now we'll see whether anyone looks at it.

The game wasn't postponed. Basketball goes on being played. Will somebody have to end up on the asphalt next time too, before the police get there ahead of the fans rather than after them?