Seven Croatian hooligans arrested in Iceland

The Croatian Police advised the Reykjavik Metropolitan Police to increase their security for the Iceland-Croatia game last Sunday.

All in all 120 police officers were on duty at the game. The Metropolitan Police was reinforced by officers from the Akureyri Police department, Suðurnes Police department, the Special Forces and the Croatian Police.

“We had Croatian Police Officers join us and advise us on the security at the game,” says Sigríður Björk Guðjónsdóttir, chief of the Metropolitan Police. They advised the Icelandic Police to increase security as there were known troublemakers among the Croatian fans that travelled to Iceland for the game.

“We arrested seven of them before the game. Interrogation revealed they had no tickets, but were bent on getting into the stadium to vandalize as much as they could,” says Ásgeir Þór Ásgeirsson head police officer.

“Because of the information from the Croatian Police we had a good plan to react if needed, both before the game and during it. We believe we quenched much of the spirit of the Croatian hooligans when we made these very public arrests outside the stadium, where they were waving flags with unkind words towards the Croatian Football Federation. There was another group that had a similar flag inside the stadium when the national anthems were played. We removed the flag and after that there was no more trouble from them. We believe we managed to stop their actions both before the game and in the beginning of it.”