Tunisia-Libya match… Riot scenes spark widespread controversy

Fans of the Libyan national football team stormed the field and attacked Tunisian players during a match between the two teams, in scenes that enraged Tunisian players and sparked several reactions.

The 4th round of the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Cote d’Ivoire saw unexpected clashes between the Libyan and Tunisian teams in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday evening. Confusion at the end of the match, Tunisia won 1-0.

And video clips that circulated widely on social media showed the moment fans stormed the field and chased Tunisian national team players, prompting them to flee to the dressing rooms and throwing fans throughout the match. Plastic water bottles on the stadium and Tunisian players in response to their country’s national team’s defeat and failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

The Tunisians disapproved of these “unsportsmanlike” displays as they condemned the mistreatment and mistreatment of their country’s national team in Libya. One activist in a blog post deemed Libyan fans’ behavior with the Tunisian national team “good”. , vile and a great shame,” emphasizing that it does not represent Libya and Libyans. Nor does it reflect the neighborly relations between the two countries.

He pointed out that Tunisia did not deserve this treatment because it was one of the first countries to request the lifting of the ban on Libyan stadiums, and it hosted matches while Libyan teams were barred from playing in their stadiums.

For his part, another activist said that the scenes being shown on TV channels and social media were bad sight and inappropriate for a football match between two neighboring countries and against the values ​​of fair play and sportsmanship. The Libyan authorities failed to conduct the match in terms of security and organization, the spectators were the black spot, and the reaction was very violent and unacceptable, especially since the Tunisian players did not protest against the conditions in which the match took place. or provoke fans.

In Libya, activists condemned the beating of the Tunisian national team at the Benghazi stadium, and some apologized to the Tunisians, seeing it as a fall and a moral failure more severe than the one the players suffered on the field.

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