HNK Hajduk Split strongly condemns repression on its supporters, which has somehow become a kind of folklore tradition on the away matches. The last one among many was a shameful incident that happened this weekend during the match between Lokomotiva and Hajduk at Maksimir.
Namely, on that occasion, supporters of Hajduk were subjected to rigorous body search due to which many of them, despite holding a ticket, entered the stadium only in the second half. We could have considered it from a perspective of a bad organization of the match, but it was not something that happened for the first time. In this respect, as it also recently happened at Rujevica, supporters were forbidden to enter the stand with a banner expressing an attitude about Croatian Football Federation. Apart from the violation of fundamental human rights, by this act, the Croatian football authorities also carry out continuous restrictions on the freedom of speech, which is a prevalent civilization value in all democratic countries.
We are opposed to any kind of violence and we fully support the prevention of attempts to try to enter and show banners, flags with text, pictures, signs or other features that express or incite hatred or violence based on race, national, regional or religious affiliation, but we strongly oppose to a general ban of all banners. Showing support to the club through different banners is also an absolutely legitimate part of football atmosphere that is present in all stadiums and clubs. Of course, in those stadiums and clubs that have supporters. It's true that for supporters a stand is also a place where they often express dissatisfaction, but the criteria for banning or sanctioning are set out in the Act on the Prevention of Violence at Sporting Events and the CFF's Security Regulations, which do not foresee such measures. Such censorship is a dangerous precedent and it brings us back to the times we all hope are far past. In order to prohibit banners, it is not enough that somebody isn't pleased with their content, but the content itself has to be against the law.
We particularly condemn an aggressive approach of police towards supporters when leaving the stadium, since among our supporters, there were many parents with small children.
It is high time for CFF to start worrying about the development of Croatian football instead of designing further prohibition and force mechanisms aimed at supporters. After all, over the last few years, the Croatian public has repeatedly made clear their thoughts about their (non) work.
HNK Hajduk Split
