The Tunisian Ministry of the Interior announced today, Sunday, that it will launch an investigation to uncover the circumstances of the rioting of the Esperance fans during the Algerian confrontation between JS Kabylie in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the African Champions League yesterday, Saturday.
Clashes between Esperance fans and Tunisian security caused the start of the second half to be postponed for about 40 minutes, before the landowners tied 1-1 with JS Kabylie and qualified for the semi-finals by beating them 2-1 on aggregate and set a date with Al-Ahly of Egypt.
JS Kabylie confirmed that a group of its fans were also attacked during the Esperance match in Rades and announced that it would file a complaint with the African Union.
JS Kabylie added that it demanded that the match not be resumed, but the match observer confirmed that calm had returned and that there was no danger to the players.
The Tunisian Ministry of Interior said that a group of people stormed a warehouse inside the stadium and used the equipment to attack security.
The statement added that the riots caused a huge fire, which was extinguished by the firefighting units, amid attempts by the players and the responsibility to calm the fans. The fans threw a number of fireworks towards the field as well.
It is scheduled that Esperance will host its rival, Al-Ahly, in the first leg of the semi-finals, on one of the 12th or 13th of May, with the return match to be held in Cairo one week later.
But before that, it is expected that Esperance will play a summit match against Sfaxien in the coronation stage of the Tunisian League, next Wednesday.
