Video: Violence after Sunday’s Bruges derby
It was another sad day for the reputation of Belgian football fans on Sunday as violence flared after the Bruges derby between Cercle Brugge and Club Brugge. The Belgian Champions Club Brugge were lucky to escape with a point in a match that ended in a 2-2 draw.
Coming on top of a series of bad results in recent weeks, include a home defeat in Champions League at the hands of Benfica mid-week, some Club Brugge fans vented their anger by staging a march in which they used fireworks and smoke bombs. This caused considerable disruption to traffic in the area around the Jan Breydel Stadium.
Nevertheless, police were able to prevent a confrontation between the Club and Cercle fans.
Violent confrontation at bar
The atmosphere remained tense and at the Bras bar not for from the stadium there was a violent confrontation between Club and Cercle fans. During the incident a firework was set off inside the bar. Punches were thrown and furniture thrown.
Miraculously no one was injured in the violence. The police were at the scene quickly and 18 people were detained. They were released after questioning. The Judiciak Authorities will decide whether they will be prosecuted. The bar’s owner told VRT News that in the 24 years that she has been running her bar she had never experienced anything like this in the afternoon.
