The PSP today rejected Betis’ accusation of an alleged “dangerous situation” in the Europa League game with Braga, saying delays in searches were due to the detection of pyrotechnics.
However, between the meeting point of Betis fans and their arrival at the Braga Municipal Stadium, several pyrotechnic devices were set off, which led, twice, to the reinforcement of security searches, which were the responsibility of the visited club, but carried out under conditions ensured by the police.
The delay in the entry of Real Betis fans, explains the PSP, was due exclusively to the “entirely founded” suspicion that Spanish fans were carrying pyrotechnics, a suspicion that was confirmed and which resulted in the raising of four infraction notices for possession of explosive material, the arrest of an individual and the expulsion of two fans from the venue.
This position contradicts the formal complaint presented by the Spanish club to UEFA, in which the Sevilla emblem alleges that its fans experienced a “dangerous and unsafe situation” at the entrances to the stadium, having been kept in a staircase “for an hour and a half in deplorable conditions”.
Faced with these accusations, that police force clarifies that the venue has an exclusive and segregated entrance for visiting fans, with a park for 30 buses, and that the access staircase, despite being long, “did not register situations of change in public order or others that would put the physical integrity of fans at risk, especially situations of panic”.
According to PSP, the last Betis fans entered the stadium at 6:05 pm, without any incident recorded.
The operation, he adds, was monitored by two ‘spotters’ from the Spanish National Police Corps, and the PSP policing commander maintained contact with the UEFA security delegate before and after the game.
“There was no indication from the UEFA security delegate about any police practice before, during or after the match”, concluded that police authority.
The clarification comes after Betis announced, on Thursday, the presentation of a formal complaint to UEFA due to the “dangerous and unsafe situation” experienced by fans at the entrances to the stadium, on Wednesday, before the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, against Sporting de Braga.
The Andalusian emblem considers that “the security operation organized by the visiting club and the Portuguese national police was clearly insufficient to facilitate the entry of more than 1,700 fans into the visiting sector of the stadium”, causing “serious damage to many of them, who entered the stadium after the 25th minute of the game”.
Betis also states that during the meeting it communicated its “protest to the UEFA officials present at the game”, and they “acknowledged the flaws in the security operation”.
The Spanish club also considers that the procession organized to transport fans from the meeting point to the stadium “was not scheduled by the Portuguese authorities sufficiently in advance to allow orderly searches and facilitate the entry of fans, resulting in serious congestion”.
Still on Thursday, in reaction to Betis’ accusations, Sporting de Braga rejected responsibility, explaining that the departure from the meeting point was delayed, which conditioned the arrival at the stadium, and that the detection of pyrotechnics and irregular tickets forced longer searches.
Contrary to what was stated by the Spanish, the Minho team guaranteed that all fans entered until the 15th minute.
The club also clarifies that it has passed all the information to UEFA, being “fully available for any additional clarifications that may be necessary”.
Lusa contacted UEFA, but so far it has not been possible to confirm the opening of an investigation into the alleged incidents recorded in that first game of the Europa League quarter-finals.
The tie, which is tied 1-1 after Wednesday’s game, will be decided on April 16, in Seville.
