Sporting de Charleroi supporters threw dead rats in the stands of Standard de Liège on Friday during the Belgian league game between the two clubs, we learned from the Liège club on Sunday.
A dozen rats painted red (the colors of the local club) were sent to the “Rouches” supporters by the Zebras, a group of supporters first reported on social networks, information confirmed by various sources. At the request of AFP, the Liège club did not comment on these incidents and did not say whether they intend to bring the case before the Pro League authorities, as mentioned by Belgian media.
“We hope that the Pro League will act, that our club will file a complaint and that the animal associations will get involved,” fans said on Facebook, while Charleroi supporters also held up a banner that read “ratification” addressed to the local public.
“Hooded spectators and dressed in pest control gear threw these rats towards T2, a grandstand occupied by families and people with reduced mobility,” said a Standard TV RTL-Tvi follower, “disgusted.”
“In order to avoid being strip searched, the rats had to be hidden somewhere. I have a hunch,” this supporter played, suggesting that the rodents were placed in the perpetrators’ underpants.
On Sunday, the Belgian media condemned “intolerable partisans”, according to the daily La Dernier Heure.
The derby between the two clubs in the Walloon professional league is often the scene of sometimes violent incidents. However, this is the first time an episode of this nature has occurred. The game was won by Standard (3-1).
These incidents prompted a response from Belgium’s animal rights group Gaia, which castigated this “deplorable level of hostility towards a rival club” in the hope that “the culprits will be quickly identified and punished”.