Football fans demand compensation for false arrest claim

At least 10 football fans are turning to legal action to demand compensation for being, according to them, wrongfully arrested after riots on the Korenmarkt in Arnhem last week.

The police arrested 70 people in Arnhem on Thursday last week on suspicion of involvement in fights and rioting before the match between Vitesse and Southampton, Omroep Gelderland reports. The suspects cell phones were confiscated for the investigation.

According to at least 10 of these football fans, they had nothing to do with the fights and were therefore wrongfully arrested. They have turned to football lawyer Christian Visser to represent them.

The police' actions are incomprehensible and there was no legal basis for the arrests, the lawyer told Omroep Gelderland. According to him, the police could have asked everyone for identification and then figured out who was involved using photos and footage of the fights. "Now everyone was arrested while it was uncertain whether they were involved.", he said to the broadcaster, adding that it may be possible that the police made the arrests to stop the situation escalating. "But that is legally impossible; you can not arrest someone for a crime he did not commit."

Visser believes he will get a favorable outcome for his clients. "It depends on whether justice dismisses the cases against them. In that case there are anyway damages. Anyone who was wrongfully detained gets 105 euros a day."