French fan critical after violence in Serbia

A French football fan hurt in a violent clash with Serbian supporters was fighting for his life on Friday, according to doctors who operated on him.

The 28-year-old man “had his chest aorta operated on for more than three hours,” Drago Jovanovic, a spokesman from the Medical Centre in Belgrade, told AFP.

“Doctors did their best, but this kind of surgery is complicated and difficult, one of the most difficult of all,” Jovanovic added.

“The thing is even more complicated by the fact that, besides his chest aorta, he has injuries to almost all his vital organs. We will be following the post-operative period to see how it goes.”

Djordje Bajec, head of the Medical Centre, told B92 television that the Frenchman had undergone “practically open-heart surgery. The outcome for operations of this kind is very uncertain.

“We should be aware that the patient also has severe injuries to his brain, lung and pelvis… His life is still very much in danger.”

The man’s condition appeared to have worsened throughout the day, as earlier on Friday doctor Vladimir Djukic told AFP that the “seriously injured French patient is very much better” and that his return to France was being arranged.

Two supporters of the French side Toulouse were hurt ahead of their team’s 3-2 Europa League victory over Partizan Belgrade on Thursday when 30 opposition fans stormed into a bar where French fans had congregated and attacked them.

The second was hospitalised with less severe injuries but held overnight for observation, before being released from hospital during the day.

A Serbian employee of the bar who was injured in the violence was also released from hospital.

One French fan told AFP that the Partizan supporters had attacked their group with baseball bats, bicycle chains and torches.

The French embassy in Belgrade asked the Serbian Interior Ministry to “clear up” all events and bring the perpetrators to justice, a statement said.

Serbian President Boris Tadic condemned what he called “wild and barbaric acts by football fans and attacks on foreign citizens” and insisted that the “state must do everything to arrest those who have committed violence and punish them as strictly as possible”.

“The state will react in accordance with its authorities to any act of violence on the streets of Belgrade and it will not allow an atmosphere of chaos to be created,” Tadic said in a statement.