High Court freezes police ban on soccer fans wearing shirts calling cops ‘scum’

The High Court of Justice has issued a temporary injunction protecting soccer fans’ right to wear a t-shirt that refers to the Israel Police as “scum.”

The court on Thursday cited the primacy of freedom of expression, including at sporting events, in its decision.

It noted, however, that its injunction “does not prevent the police from operating within the boundaries of the law, as necessary to perform their duty.”

The court order blocked a police directive that had banned fans from entering stadiums wearing the shirt.

Judges gave police two weeks to present justification for the ban, before it is annulled permanently.

The shirts in question, produced by a fan club for Hapoel Tel Aviv, read “Ultras Hapoel against the scum,” in English, above the logos of the Israel Police, the banned Jewish supremacist Kach party and the Maccabi soccer club.

Fans of the team were barred from Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium last Saturday after showing up to a soccer match against Hapoel Petah Tikvah wearing the shirts.

The shirts were deemed to be incitement against police and fans wearing them were therefore blocked from entering, an officer told the Haaretz newspaper.

According to the officer, supporters of Hapoel Tel Aviv had been warned in advance that they would be barred from the game if they insisted on wearing the shirts.

Ultras Hapoel said in a statement, however, that its fans had only decided to wear the shirts after police announced last week that they would not be allowed to bring placards or flags to the game against Hapoel Petah Tikvah.

In October, police canceled a much-anticipated derby match between the team and Maccabi Tel Aviv when a riot broke out ahead of the match, also at Bloomfield Stadium.

Police said fans threw objects at officers, lightly injuring them, and hurled flares and smoke bombs onto the field ahead of the game.

The following week, the soccer club threatened to boycott its cup final match after police published a video comparing its fans to violent rioters in East Jerusalem.

The club accused police of incitement against its supporters and warned that it would not take part in the cup final amid “deliberate police violence against our fans.” It ultimately participated in the match, which it lost to Beitar Jerusalem.