What the arrested said: The attack was not nationally motivated, they wanted to seize a flag, some arrested have previous similar offenses

(Patria) - Ten arrested individuals suspected of attacking a group of people from Belgrade in the Sarajevo settlement of Ilidža are being questioned at the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton.

According to information obtained by Patria, the interrogated individuals claim the attack was not nationally motivated, but that they only wanted to seize the flag as a trophy.

Incidentally, two of the ten arrested individuals are already registered for the same criminal offense, when they previously stole a fan scarf by attacking a minor.

Some of the arrested are also known for previous attacks on other fans.

Incidentally, the organizer of the tournament also made a statement today, emphasizing that the hooligans thought they were attacking Red Star fans.

"As it has recently become popular in the stands among fans to burn confiscated banners and flags, which in the fan world are considered a conquered trophy and humiliation to rival fan groups, a group of hooligans thought this was the flag of F.K. Crvena Zvezda," the organizers explained.

According to the organizers, the flag of FK Zvezdara, due to the similar club name, colors, and Cyrillic script, reminded the hooligans of the flags of the Belgrade club from Marakana.

We also learned that the parent of one of the arrested stated that after the unpleasant event at the hotel, the parents of the boys from Zvezdara went after the attackers and also beat them.

To recall, on Saturday, a group of hooligans entered a hotel in Ilidža in the afternoon where the parents of children from Belgrade who were participating in a sports competition were accommodated. During the incident, one person from Belgrade sustained minor injuries from a sharp object.

The entire event later took on political connotations, which was exploited by the media in Serbia to portray everything as hatred towards Serbs.