Soccer fans stormed the pitch during an African Champions League clash between Tunisia side Club Africain and Sudanese Al-Hilal in Tunis, prompting the referee to suspend the game, and raising concerns about the security in the soccer fields following Tunisia’s January 14 revolution.
Al Hilal scored the first goal of the match in the 18th minute to anger Club Africain’s home fans, who used fireworks.
The Tunisian side scored an equalizer in 69th minute. But as time passed, supporters of Club African saw their team unable to clinch a winner and likely to go out of the competition because of their first leg 0-1 defeat in Sudan. The fans then invaded the pitch, some holding sticks and bladed weapons, which they used to assault security forces. It was unclear if any security personnel or marauding fans were injured in the melee.
It is also not known what the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will decide about the match, but it is likely that the Sudanese club will go through to the quarter finals and the Tunisian club will punished by elimination.
In April, hundreds of Egypt’s Zamalek supporters invaded the pitch during their team’s match with Tunisia's Club Africain in Cairo, causing the game to be abandoned.
The incident prompted Prime Minister Essam Sharaf of Egypt to apologize to the Tunisian people.
(Mustapha Ajbaili of Al Arabiya can be reached at: Mustapha.ajbaili@mbc.net)
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