Stockholm could be turned into a war zone"
Renowned Utrecht hooligans are coming to the second leg of the UEFA-cup game against Djurgården.
The hooligans of FC Utrecht are feared in Holland. The violent supporters group "Utrecht Hooligans" are now planning to invade Stockholm.
- These are not nice fellows. Sadly, Stockholm could be turned into a war zone, a dutch journalist comments.
The Utrecht fans have embarassed themselves before. Last year they incited fierce riots when polish Legia Warsawa came to visit the town. Around 20 people were wounded, several of them seriously.
In connection with the game versus Djurgården in Holland last thursday, they attacked the Djurgården supporters outside an irish pub in the city centre.
On their web site, Utrecht Hooligans describe the attack into the last detail, and conclude that it was a complete success. At the same time, there is despair over the fact that the police "came to the rescue of the swedes".
- There are four large groups of hooligans in Holland: Feyenoord, Ajax, Den Haag and Utrecht. They are all completely mad. If the Utrecht hooligans are in Stockholm, then you'd have a big problem, claims a dutch journalist who wishes to remain anonymous.
According to certain sources, around 2000 Utrecht supporters will be coming to Stockholm for the second leg this thursday, in spite of the fact that Utrecht in principle are already through to the next round.
Two to three hundred of these are classified as category C-fans and are known to be violent.
- Category A are normal supporters, category B are supporters who are troublesome on occasion, and category C are the real hooligans, supporter police Hans Löfdahl explains.
Löfdahl claims that the police are well aware of the risks and that they will do everything they can to prevent confrontation.
The question is: will that be enough?
- I was down in Utrecht myself to see what it looked like. There was trouble there as well. If they try anything here, we will respond with force, says Löfdahl.
The leader of the Utrecht supporter's club Benton Boden (is that the fat guy who's going to kill everyone? ) does not deny that a large number of hooligans are on their way to Stockholm.
- Most of us are regular fans going there to have fun and celebrate the victory. But there are among a hundred of us who would not back down if trouble arises, if you see what I mean. I know that the swedes are looking for revenge for what happened last week, he says to Sportbladet.