20-Year-Old Fan in Custody for Punching a 16-Year-Old in the Head Outside Jane Sandanski: The Appeals Came After the Child Landed in Hospital

Prosecutors allege that the 20-year-old struck a 16-year-old child from the opposing camp on the head outside the entrance to the Jane Sandanski sports centre. The child lost consciousness, fell to the ground and ended up at the Mother Teresa Clinical Centre with a head contusion. The Criminal Court ordered the suspect into 30 days of custody, citing the risk of flight, of influencing witnesses and of repeating the offence.

It happened around 7 p.m., before the MZT - Rabotnički basketball game. According to the Interior Ministry, around 50 Rabotnički fans were waiting to enter the hall. A smaller group from the fan group Family, which numbered around 30 people in total, came from Vasko Karangeleski Street, set off pyrotechnics and attacked them, then scattered in different directions.

A criminal complaint for violence has been filed against P.A., and two 18-year-olds were also taken to a police station. The ministry says the investigation continues and that it is summoning others found to have taken part. It added an appeal to fans for fair behaviour and a message that violence won't be tolerated.

Hitting a child on the head is not a "fan incident". Someone decided to march with pyrotechnics towards a group waiting outside a hall, and someone hit a minor. The people who did that now have to answer for it.

But the second question is for the institutions. This isn't the first incident at this fixture. On 29 March this year, at Jane Sandanski, three people were arrested at the MZT - Rabotnički game. A match that brings two rival camps to one address surprises nobody. What was the security assessment for that evening, and where were the police at 7 p.m.? How many children have to fall outside the entrance to a sports hall before the appeals turn into a plan?