What was supposed to be a nice football afternoon on September 3, 2023, ended in a battle outside the Willem II stadium. Rioters threw bricks, heavy fireworks, and fences at the police. A 20-year-old man from Schoten (B) is suspected of throwing a steel pipe at riot police three times, injuring one officer who still suffers from the injury.
Threatening and deliberately trying to injure the police, multiple officers describe the hooligans’ behavior on that Sunday in Tilburg. ‘The crowd was out of control and very aggressive towards us,’ a police officer later stated. Another said they could not hold the situation any longer.
Camera footage shows a masked rioter pushing a roll container towards the riot police line, hitting an officer. Then he throws a long object, resembling a steel pipe, twice towards the police officers. When the hooligan throws such a pipe at the riot police for the third time, he hits an officer’s helmet directly. The scene was recorded by a colleague’s bodycam. The victim was taken away injured.
Recognized on footage
During the investigation that followed, the suspect was recognized without facial covering on footage made before the riots. Clothing and build match the description of the wanted person NN15, as noted in the file. Distinctive features include a brown logo and zipper on the sweater, tight jeans, and black shoes. Based on this, the Public Prosecution Service determined the suspect was the one who threw a pipe at the officers three times.
“It is an incredibly serious and intense act, with very large consequences for the victim’s life,” said the public prosecutor today during the case hearing. The victim still suffers from severe pain and limitations. He remains 100 percent incapacitated for work.
“Any form of violence against police officers is completely unacceptable, but the way the rioters acted on September 3, 2023, really goes beyond all limits,” the prosecutor said in her closing argument. “Under all the protective gear are men and women who risk their lives and/or health to ensure safety in our society.”
Unbelievable explanation
The Public Prosecution Service holds the suspect very accountable for not taking responsibility for the violence against the police to this day and for denying being present. His explanation that he lent his sweater to someone else was called unbelievable by the prosecutor.
The prosecutor finds it legally and convincingly proven that the suspect is guilty of grievous bodily harm and public violence. In formulating her sentence demand, she weighs as an aggravating factor that it concerns football-related violence aimed at officials. For both criminal offenses, the Public Prosecution Service demands a prison sentence of thirty months, of which 10 months conditional with a probation period of two years.
The court will deliver its verdict on November 28.
