Drone Carries Flag Over Serbia-Albania Soccer Match, Nationalist Violence Follows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDj5l-00Nd0
Nationalist tensions have long played out in soccer stadiums. But Tuesday might have been the first time they exploded into on-field violence because of a drone.
Serbian-Albanian relations are so volatile that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) banned Albanian soccer fans from attending Tuesday's match against Serbia in Belgrade. So when a small drone trailing a map of historically Albanian territories hovered over the field a few minutes before halftime, Serbian players -- and a stadium full of fans -- got mad. Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic pulled the drone from the air, Albanian players approached in protest, and a melee ensued:
Serbia fans then ran a classic course of nationalist hooliganism infused with decades of political and ethnic tensions: They rushed the field to brawl with players, pelted the Albanian squad with stadium chairs, and burned a NATO flag, which presumably was brought along for the purpose.
The scene ended with the Albanian team running to their lockers and the cancellation of the match, a qualifier for the 2016 European Championship and the Albanian squad's first trip to Belgrade since 1967. Neither team scored in just under 42 minutes of play.
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