A police officer was hit in the head by an object towards the end of the game and suffered a laceration. A 25-year-old was found by a police patrol on an embankment south-east of the stadium at night: he had an open wound and said he had been attacked by Italian fans.
Police say investigations are ongoing. According to the executive, Italian fan groups had already been in the city of Graz the day before the match started, but intervention was not necessary. On Thursday afternoon, groups of fans gathered around the main square. Around 200 Italians marched towards the Merkur Arena in Liebenau at around 4.30 p.m., which led to traffic stops at the central public transport node on Jakominiplatz and delays. Several smaller groups were taken to the stadium by bus.
At the fan march, a few people showed a stretched right arm, which was probably intended to correspond to the fascist or “Roman salute”. Video and photo material will now be evaluated and submitted to the public prosecutor’s office in Graz for a legal assessment.
Towards the end of the game, a police officer was hit in the head by an unknown object and suffered a laceration. It is still being determined whether the object was deliberately thrown at the officer by a stranger. Around 10:30 p.m., a police patrol in the area of Karl-Huber-Gasse near the Liebenauer Tangente noticed a man lying on an embankment. The 25-year-old had a bleeding wound about five centimeters long on his left forearm. He stated that he had just been attacked by a group of Italian fans. He received two punches in the face and an unknown person injured his forearm with a jackknife. The injured man was taken to the LKH Graz, a search for the perpetrators was negative.
Source: Nachrichten
