Hungarian nationalists in massive altercation at football match in Slovakia

Far right groups from Poland and the Czech Republic joined their Slovak counterparts on Saturday to support Bratislava soccer team Slovan in a contest against Dunajska Streda, a team from an ethnic Hungarian region in southern Slovakia, while about 1,000 far right Hungarians picked up the gauntlet.

The result: numerous injuries and arrests. One man was air-lifted to the hospital.

Police were prepared for disturbances in the game, one of the most important in the Slovak championship, after the far right on all sides used Internet forums to organize.

Disturbances had begun before the game got underway, when police arrested a number of fans of both teams. Gabor Gobl, one of the organizers of the Hungarian soccer fans, said police had arrested the far-right pop group Romantic Violence, which had scheduled a concert in Slovakia the night before, but was cancelled. He added that police denied him entrance into Slovakia.

The Hungarian language Slovak daily Uj Szo reported that 13 fans had been arrested and 16 injured including 3 who required hospitalization before the game even got underway after Bratislava fans three bottles and firebombs at the Dunajska Streda team headquarters. Law enforcement authorities escorted a number of injured and bleeding Slovan fans from the scene, the paper reported.

Over 1,000 police officers and an unspecified number of private security guards and military police were on hand. There were 10,000 spectators. Many Hungarians carried banners showing maps of Hungary that included Slovakia as a province of Hungary.

The game was halted temporarily in the 15th minute, when police marched into the area of the stands occupied by the Hungarians, who chose to fight it out. Several people were hospitalized including one man who was air-lifted after his jaw was broken, blocking his windpipe. He was intubated. No further incidents were reported.

After the game, which Bratislava won 4:0, police equipped with water cannon escorted Bratislava fans to the railway station.

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