Police are investigating a series of brawls after a local ice hockey derby between Tappara and Ilves at the Tampere arena.

Open the image viewer

Police are investigating clashes after an ice hockey match in Tampere as a riot. Two local men’s teams played on Friday night, Ilves defeated hosts Tappara 4-0 at the Tampere arena.

At least 10 police patrols arrived at the scene when violence broke out between supporters of the two teams.

Police detained nine people to prevent further disruptive behaviour, Detective Inspector Jari Luoto from the Central Finland Police Department told Yle on Saturday.

He said police were reviewing surveillance footage as part of their investigation into the disturbances. According to Luoto, the investigation of the video footage is laborious due to the darkness at the time and the fact that violations occurred in many locations.

Open the image viewer

“Police are investigating whether this constituted a riot and who may have participated in it. The specific criminal charges may change as the investigation progresses,” he said.

The ambulance was called, at least one injured

Luoto confirmed to Yle that an ambulance was needed due to the disturbance. A criminal complaint was filed for assault.

“At this time, it appears that a spectator has been injured,” he said.

According to Luoto, according to current information, there have been a number of clashes between individuals and groups on the Sori Bridge and directly in front of the arena.

He declined to speculate on how many people were involved in the altercations or whether they all attended the match.

Fan violence is a persistent problem in Finland, usually associated with ice hockey and men’s football matches.