17 arrested as brawl breaks out between soccer fans

30 October 2016, 8:34 pm

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Police have arrested 17 people after a melee broke out between soccer fans next to Beersheba’s Turner Stadium before a game between Hapoel Beersheba and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The game between powerhouse Tel Aviv and upstart Beersheba, which shocked the country by winning the premier league cup last year, is being billed as “the game of the season,” and tensions are high, Channel 2 reports.

MK Yoel Rozbozov, a former judoka who now heads the Knesset’s sports caucus, calls on police to crack down on soccer hooliganism.

“It’s not possible that week after week, especially in the most central games, those which draw the most attention, we see weakness by those charged with enforcing laws in Israel,” he says in a statement.