In Uzhgorod thousand policemen pacified fans of FC “Karpaty”. One police officer was injured (PHOTOS)

 On Friday, the 3rd of May, in Uzhgorod there was the football match of the Premier League between teams of "Hoverla" Uzhgorod – "Karpaty" Lviv.

These matches between the old neighbor rivals (also called the Carpathian derby) are always stressful.Several years ago, fans of "Karpaty" caused a true havoc at the Uzhgorod stadium and around it, and had to be pacified by the police. To prevent troubles this time, about 940 police officers from across the region were engaged to ensure law and order during the match at the stadium in Uzhgorod.

At first it was quiet, until the second half when the Uzhgorod went ahead – 2-1 (the match eventually finished with this score). Lviv fans began to ignite and throw fireworks on the field, and 6 of them, breaking the fence, left their sector and ran on the treadmill. 

To prevent mass disturbances, police forces, including special forces of "Berkut", were quickly sent to the sector of Lviv fans. The police detained six most radical supporters and took them to health facilities in order to determine the influence of alcohol, after which the protocol on administrative offense under Art.173 of the Administrative Code (disorderly conduct) was drawn up against them.      

The bulk of Lviv fans (and there were overall about 600 of them in Uzhgorod) were escorted by the police to the buses, and those who had come by train were escorted to the Uzhgorod railway station.       

Mass riots in Uzhgorod were prevented thanks to the professional actions of the police. However, the director of the ME "Avangard Stadium" reported to Uzhgorod police that during the football match between "Hoverla" and "Karpaty", the Lviv club fans had damaged the stadium’s property, including 25 meters of metal wall, 40 meters of the fence and 17 plastic chairs. The amount of damages caused to the stadium is now being calculated.

There are also victims among law enforcement officers. One of those, who were standing in the police living chain, namely an assistant district inspector of Mukachevo city police department in the rank of police sergeant, received burns of feet, hands and damages of the uniform from a firework thrown by one of the fans.

Those incidents were included in the Unified register of pre-trial investigations, the circumstances of the case will be clarified by the investigation.