Depor fan killed in clashes before Atletico game

Deportivo Coruña's supporters react during their Spanish first division soccer match against Atletico Madrid at Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid, November 30, 2014. REUTERS/Susana Vera

 (Reuters) - A Deportivo La Coruna supporter has died after he was injured when dozens of rival fans from radical groups clashed near the stadium before the club's La Liga match at Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
The 43-year-old Depor fan, who was identified by Deportivo only as "Jimmy", had to be pulled out of the freezing Manzanares river near Atletico's Calderon stadium and suffered cardiac arrest, hypothermia and head injuries, emergency services said. A hospital spokeswoman later said he had died shortly after 2 pm local time (1300 GMT) after failing to respond to efforts to revive him.
Eleven other people were treated for injuries, including one female police officer with a fractured hand. 
Twenty-four people were taken into custody, all members of radical fan groups from Deportivo and Atletico, as well as Madrid-based clubs Rayo Vallecano and Alcorcon, and a total of 100 troublemakers had been identified, police said on their Twitter feed (@policia).
They named the radical groups, who are known to organise fights among themselves before matches, as Riazor Blues (Deportivo), Frente Atletico, Bukaneros (Rayo) and Alkor Hooligans (Alcorcon).
Atletico and Spain's professional soccer league (LFP) condemned the violence and the LFP said it had wanted to suspend the game, which champions Atletico won 2-0.
Spanish media reported they had been unable to do so as it had not been possible to contact the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) in time.
"I want to say that this has nothing to do with football," Atletico president Enrique Cerezo said in an interview with Spanish television recorded before the fan's death was announced. "These are radical groups who meet up and these are the consequences," Cerezo added. "I repeat that neither Atletico nor Deportivo have anything to do with these incidents, they are organised by radical groups who have their histories and their accounts to settle."
Depor president Tino Fernandez said clubs needed to do more to make sure such incidents were not allowed to happen.
"It's tragic news," he told Spanish TV. "I want to express our vehement opposition to violence."
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/11/30/soccer-spain-violence-idINKCN0JE0GZ20141130

Depor fan dead after clash between ‘ultras’ ahead of Atlético match

 Madrid 1 DIC 2014 - 08:54 CET 

A violent confrontation between hardcore groups of Spanish soccer fans – known as ultras – left a 43-year-old man dead and many more injured in Madrid on Sunday morning.

Two large groups of Deportivo de La Coruña (Galicia) and Atlético de Madrid fans clashed at 8.49am on the banks of the capital’s Manzanares River. On one side were a hundred or so members of Riazor Blues, the radical section of Deportivo de La Coruña’s fan base. On the other, more than 150 members of Frente Atlético, from the ultra section of Atlético de Madrid, whose stadium is near to where the incident happened.

Most of the members of the two gangs were carrying bats, metal bars and knuckle dusters. Anyone who wasn’t armed grabbed metal chairs from a nearby terrace. Once within 20 meters of each other, the groups began to throw fireworks and firecrackers. After a minute of loud bangs, fighting broke out: punches, kicks and stabbings. The Galician ultras, who were outnumbered, fled the scene, but some were left behind.

At 8.52am, according to a recording made by a bystander, a dozen or so Atlético ultras threw one of the Galicians into the river. He managed to get out of the water after having fallen five meters into the Manzanares. Other members of the gang did the same a minute later with Francisco Javier Romero Taboada, a Galician ultra who managed to hang on to the handrail after being thrown over the side. Blows and beatings rained down on him until he fell into the water.

Taboada called for help for half-an-hour from the river as he tried to keep himself afloat and scale the sheer wall lining the bank, according to a taxi driver who witnessed the scene. A number of passers-by harangued one of the few municipal police officers on the scene for not jumping in after him as, all the while, the confrontations between the two groups of ultras continued on the river bank. According to the same source, the officer explained that he was awaiting backup.

Fifteen minutes later, municipal squad cars arrived, as well as officers from the National Police, who began making arrests. Later on, firefighters used a ladder to rescue the man from the water.

When an ambulance finally arrived, the man was in cardiac arrest and was showing signs of hypothermia. He was, according to an official source, “clinically dead.” Romero Taboada, or ‘Jimmy’ as he was known, was a familiar face to the police in La Coruña. He was 43, and had a wife and two children.

The incident left 10 injured, 21 arrests, 30 people identified by the authorities and a lot of stitches. Among those detained were two members of the Bukaneros, the radical section of Madrid team Rayo Vallecano, and who, like the Riazor Blues, are also of the extreme left. Frente Atlético, in contrast, follows a neo-Nazi ideology.

The police want to check phone records of those arrested to find out if the fight was premeditated.

The scene was left covered in blood stains, an officer present at the scene told EL PAÍS. Among the last to be arrested was a La Coruña radical with a stab wound in his back. The police interviews continued on Sunday night. The police have requested a judicial order to check the telephone records of the arrested men to find out whether the fight had been premeditated.

The central government’s delegate in Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes, stated on Sunday that the tragedy could have been avoided if the National Anti-violence Commission – which is part of the Interior and Culture ministries – had classed the game as high risk, given that 10 times more officers would have been deployed around the stadium (around 150) and a police escort would have accompanied the ultras on their journey into Madrid. The commission claims it did not know that the 200 radicals would be travelling to the Calderón stadium.

Despite the incident, the game went ahead. The final decision as to whether or not to suspend the match lay with the Spanish Football Federation.

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/12/01/inenglish/1417420479_723026.html 

A football Fan Dies In Madrid 'Ultras' Football Violence

Hooligans do battle on the Spanish capital's streets, with one man dying in hospital after being dragged from a freezing river.

A football fan has died from a heart attack after firefighters pulled him out of a river suffering from hypothermia and head injuries.

The Deportivo La Coruna supporter, identified only as "Jimmy" by the club, was discovered amid clashes before the Spanish side's match at Atletico Madrid. Dozens of rival fans from hardcore 'ultras' groups fought near Atletico's stadium, throwing firecrackers, chairs and sticks.

A hospital spokeswoman said the 43-year-old had died just after 2pm local time after efforts to resuscitate him failed. Eleven other people were treated for injuries, including a female police officer with a fractured hand. Police said 24 people were in custody and that they were all from radical fan groups from the two clubs, as well as from Madrid-based clubs Rayo Vallecano and Alcorcon. A total of 100 troublemakers have been identified, according to a police tweet. 

They named the radical groups, who often organise fights among themselves, as Riazor Blues (Deportivo), Frente Atletico, Bukaneros and Alkor Hooligans. 

Spain's professional football league, the LFP, said they wanted to call off the match but were unable to contact football bosses in time. 

The country's sport minister, Jose Ignacio Wert, has lined up an urgent meeting with the sport's anti-violence commission on Monday. Both club presidents spoke to the media to condemn the violence. Atletico president Enrique Cerezo said the clashes had "nothing to do with football". "I repeat that neither Atletico nor Deportivo have anything to do with these incidents, they are organised by radical groups who have their histories and their accounts to settle," said Mr Cerezo. Deportivo president Tino Fernandez said the club would support the family of the dead man. "We want to express that we strongly reject violence. At the moment we don't know the details and it is tragic news," said Mr Fernandez. "The clubs need to act so that these things don't happen anymore. "Our position is well-known and we have to lament what has happened. We are at the disposition of the family."

http://news.sky.com/story/1383215/fan-dies-in-madrid-ultras-football-violence