ZAGREB, February 11, 2019 – Two men, aged 25 and 23, who this past weekend were involved in an attack on three Serbian water polo players in Split, have been taken into custody and charged with two hate-motivated crimes – attempted infliction of grievous bodily harm and robbery.
The three Serbian players are members of Belgrade’s Red Star Water Polo Club who had arrived in Split for a game against the local side Mornar BS, which was scheduled for 8.30pm on Saturday. The match was cancelled because of the incident.
The police said on Monday that their investigation into the incident revealed that the two men, acting in collusion, came to a cafe at Split’s waterfront promenade around 1.30pm on Saturday and physically attacked three Serbian athletes sitting on the cafe’s terrace.
The motive for the attack, police say, was that one of the Serbian players wore his club jerseys. Demanding that he take them off, the youths started kicking and hitting the Serbian players with clubs.
“The perpetrators called the player names and threatened him, and after he fled and jumped into the sea, they continued to demand, threatening him with a knife, to hand over his jerseys, which he eventually did. The 29-year-old player sustained light injuries in the incident,” the police said.
The police spoke to a number of witnesses to the incident and searched the suspects’ flats, finding the Serbian water polo player’s jerseys with one of the two arrested assailants.
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