Cricket World Cup disorder: Police tracing eight men

Tuesday 06th August 2019 15:13 EDT
 

Police have released photographs of eight men they want to trace over trouble that flared during a Cricket World Cup match at Headingley. Fans clashed inside and outside the ground during the game between Pakistan and Afghanistan on 29 June. Police said it involved a large group and three arrests were made.

Officers said they had "pinpointed four incidents of violent disorder" and were "keen to identify the suspects" after scouring CCTV and social media footage. Videos filmed by the public showed a group trying to break through the gates between the main road and the stadium. Fans were also seen jumping over the fence that surrounds the ground and gaining access to the concourse behind the Western Terrace.

Two of the arrested men were released without charge and the third one is currently on bail pending further inquiries.

West Yorkshire Police said it was called to the stadium shortly before noon on the day of the game following reports of a disturbance at the ground.

Det Sup Jaz Khan said the footage showed "people were assaulted during these incidents" despite no injuries being reported. "Violent scenes like this are completely unprecedented at a cricket match. It caused understandable concern to the law-abiding majority who were there to enjoy this high-profile sports events in peace. We simply cannot allow behaviour such as this to go unchallenged and we need to send a very clear message about how unacceptable it is for people to involve themselves in crowd trouble at sports events and that there will be consequences," he said.


comments powered by Disqus



to the free, weekly Asian Voice email newsletter