Soccer fans suspected of throwing backer of rival team through store window
Fans of a Tel Aviv soccer team are suspected of violently assaulting a man who expressed support for a rival club.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said shortly after midnight Sunday, it received a report of a 25-year-old man who was injured when a window shattered on him in Tel Aviv. Paramedics treated the man at the scene and brought him to the city’s Ichilov Hospital in serious condition.
The victim apparently yelled “Let’s go Beitar” at a group of Hapoel Tel Aviv supporters, referring to the Beitar Jerusalem soccer squad. In response, the Hapoel fans are suspected of beating the man and hurling him through a storefront window.
Security camera footage appeared to show the victim being chased by the group down a Tel Aviv street.
תיעוד: עשרות אוהדי הפועל תל אביב תוקפים במכות צעיר שהעיר להם (“יאללה בית”ר”) בצומת הרחובות הרצל ודרך יפו. הצעיר אמר ל @ynetalerts : “הם היו 30-40 אנשים עם רעל ושנאה בעיניים, חשבתי שהם יהרגו אותי וניסיתי לברוח”. pic.twitter.com/MxYLxWXCY7
— איתי בלומנטל (@ItayBlumental) September 8, 2019
“When I saw there was no joking atmosphere and only hatred in their eyes, and I saw around [me] at least 30-40 people with poison in their eyes, I had to try and escape,” the unnamed victim told the Ynet news site.
“Then a motorcyclist who was startled hit me. I fell and they set upon me and beat me. I thought they were going to kill me,” he added.
בשעה 00:06 התקבל דיווח במוקד 101 של מד”א במרחב דן על גבר שנפצע מזכוכיות חלון ראווה שהתנפצה ברחוב יפו בתל אביב. חובשים ופראמדיקים של מד”א מעניקים טיפול רפואי ומפנים לבי”ח איכילוב גבר כבן 25 במצב קשה עם חבלות בגפיים. pic.twitter.com/mV7Aq9bdgo
— מגן דוד אדום (@mda_israel) September 8, 2019
The Hapoel fans are believed to have been at an event marking 20 years since the founding of Hapoel Ultras, an organization of some of the team’s most hardcore supporters that has been linked to hooliganism.
Police have opened an investigation in the suspected assault. No arrests have been made.