Anti-Israel protesters threw rocks and fireworks at police while attempting to disrupt an Israel-Norway soccer match in Skien, Norway.
Pro-Palestinian activists clashed with police in riot gear during a demonstration at the Skagerak Arena in Skien, Norway, where an Israeli-Norwegian under-19 soccer match took place, reports The Jerusalem Post.
The protesters wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags berated the officers and picked up loose gravel to hurl through the gates to the arena.
„Norway and Israel played a football match, so how can Russia be boycotted from all sports arenas while Israel is still in every sports scene and Eurovision while committing genocide of the Palestinian people?? Double standards!” Photographer and activist Eyad Al Zaro wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, March 26.
After „an overall assessment of the safety of the players and the public,” the Norwegian Football Federation decided last Tuesday to close the match to spectators.
„Do you want a country where nationalist and Islamist violent activists get to control who can play football or who can watch football? Or do you want a country where such violent mobs are arrested and condemned?” Med Israel for Fred (MIFF) director Conrad Myrland wrote on Tuesday, adding that one could only wonder what would happen to the Israeli athletes if the protesters had broken in.
The Israeli team lost to Norway 2-0, ending its UEFA European Championship Qualifying journey.
Photo credit: David Balogh – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
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