At match in Grozny on May 11 water cannons and truncheons were used against fans

On May 11, in the course of the opening ceremony of the largest in Northern Caucasus sports complex named after Akhmad Kadyrov in Grozny, not all possible nuances were foreseen; and it resulted in a number of serious incidents outside the stadium, local observers and football fans assert.

In particular, the police used water cannons and truncheons against the "extra" fans, who came to see the match between the team of world football stars and the team "Kavkaz"; while the very match, with the legendary Diego Maradona, who led the team of world stars, left a mixed impression among the fans.

"In order to fill the stalls, the authorities literally drive there the employees of virtually all state-owned agencies and enterprises, students of higher and secondary educational institutions and schoolchildren. As a result, almost all the territory adjacent to the stadium was densely packed with people. Tens of thousands of people, many women with children among them, had to queue for hours in order to get to the stadium," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent told about the leader of one of local NGOs.

Fans were allowed into the stadium through one entrance; all of them were thoroughly searched. "This led to hustle, and numerous other incidents. Many people felt bad; organizers had to call ambulances to help them. After the whole stadium was packed, some 100,000 people were still outside. The police demanded from them to disperse and then used water canons against them," said the source.

Mussa, a student of the Grozny State Oil Institute, said that they were ordered to go to the match under threat of non-admission to the exams; however, many students could not get into. "It was impossible to quit the crowd, because we were squeezed from all sides. I saw a water spray knock down an old man; we helped him up' and then a policeman ran up to him to apologize, saying that it was just an occasion; however, they were ordered to disperse all the "extra" fans. We failed to get to the stadium," he said.

In his comment on the situation, an employee of the Chechen MIA said that the use of water cannons against the crowd at the sports complex was a forced measure. "There were over 100,000 people there. The crowd gave no reaction to the offer to go home; anything could happen; that is why we had to use water cannons," said the policeman. He denied that the police had used truncheons against the fans.

Those fans, who did manage to get to the stadium and watch the game, say that the game left an ambiguous impression. "The ceremony itself was very impressive: fireworks, performances of ensembles and foreign pop stars; however, the match was not very interesting," said Sultan I., a Grozny resident.

According to his story, Maradona was not in great shape, and the only thing he managed to do properly was to score from a free kick; the rest of the time he simply moved across the pitch. "Out of the world football stars I liked only Zamorano and Figo. They really showed a good game," said Sultan.

"The Kadyrov team did everything to give to give Kadyrov a chance to score, the all played on him. There were a few normal scoring chances that the Kadyrov's team 'Kavkaz' failed to use. I had expected to see a more interesting and serious match, albeit friendly," said another football fan, Vakha N.

Let us remind you that the former world-known stars of global football, headed by Diego Maradona, lost the match to "Kavkaz" team with the score of 2:5.