Belarusian fans are against riot police present at stands

The organization of Belarusian football fans demands to remove police and riot police from stadiums.

The editorial office of the belultras.by web-site addressed the chairman of the Belarusian Football Federation Siarhei Ruman and a specialist for working with supporters Ihar Bialkovich with an open letter. In the letter the supporters of the teams of the top and first divisions have listed suggestions for improving the organization of fan sectors at the games of the championship of Belarus.

“One of the biggest problems that we face is the treatment of fans by police. Every supported who was in a fan sector at least once experienced an inadequate inspection, which they had to undergo more than once. Many of them know what it is like to undress in the frost, stand barefoot on the cold ground. Especially acute the problem is with road games of a favorite team. A harsh inspection provokes us for reactions at stands. We are sure that if law enforcing agents behave adequately we will respond in the same way”, - the letter says.

The supporters are also asking to abandon the practice of bringing police and riot police to fan sectors of the stands.

“The following issue is also important: the absence of policemen and riot policemen in fan sectors. The presence of police and even more so – riot police – causes many conflict situations in the sectors. In civilized countries they have long abandoned such a practice and policemen and riot policemen have been replaced by stewards. We realize that the introduction of the institution of stewards is a fairly difficult task. But it is one of the most important problems which must be addressed by the Football Federation. Having solved this problem we will be able to achieve a significant increase of supporters’ interest to our championship. It is very odd to hear the words of Siarhei Safar’jan: “It is not really our function”. We wonder who has to deal with that. We are ready for a dialogue, but it is necessary to understand that these must be specially prepared people, but not fans themselves. But the most important is for the approach to the solution to be integrated, not in separate clubs only”, - the letter emphasizes.