Deputy mayor of Enschede after riots at FC Twente-Hammarby IF match: limit has been reached

Niels van den Berg, deputy mayor of Enschede, apologizes to the visitors of the match between FC Twente and Swedish Hammarby IF for Thursday's riots and believes that a limit has been reached. In a reaction, he expressed his "deep dismay and downright anger." "This violence has nothing to do with football. I am deeply outraged by the severity of the violence and the scale of the violence after the UEFA Conference League match," it said in a statement.

After the match, supporters of both clubs clashed in the stands. Clashes also broke out outside the stadium. "This violence in and around the De Grolsch Veste stadium by a group of rioters who dare to call themselves football fans must stop. This violence has no place in and around a football stadium," Van den Berg said. "The fact that the rioters are turning against police officers is also unacceptable and shameful."

A large police contingent was already deployed in the region in the run-up to the match because of fears of a "disturbance of public order" by hooligans. According to the deputy mayor, this "large police capacity" helped keep things from getting out of hand in the days leading up to the match. "The fact that this police capacity, with all its social costs, is needed to make a football game safe in our city is unacceptable. This should not be the new normal," Van den Berg said.

An event in the city center of Enschede had to be stopped early after the football match. "I thank the organizers and visitors of Grolsch Summer Sounds Enschede Dance and the restaurateurs at the Oude Markt," Van den Berg said. "The understanding and cooperation to work together to ensure a safe situation in the city center was very helpful. Also, the willing cooperation of the restaurateurs in recent days in both Enschede and Hengelo has helped tremendously."

In his statement, the deputy mayor also stressed the need to put an end to violence at these events and to find solutions to this problem. “At the same time, we still have many questions, to which we do not yet have a ready answer. These questions will have to be answered in order to find appropriate answers to the question of how we are going to stop this violence by rioters around football matches. The limit has been reached. This violence must stop.”

The deputy mayor further shared that many people who were at the stadium provided the police with photos and pictures to identify rioters.