ZAPORIZHIA - A group of Ukrainian fans was attacked by people in balaclavas in Lille, which is co-hosting the Euro 2006 European Football Championship, two of them were seriously injured, member of Zaporizhia Regional Council Yaroslav Hryshyn has said.
Hryshyn wrote on his Facebook page that two of his relatives, who were waiting for the Germany-Ukraine match with a group of Ukrainian fans in a pub in the city of Lille, France, on June 12, were beaten by two dozen people in balaclavas.
According to him, they ran into the square and started to beat the Ukrainian fans and tear national symbols they were holding.
“My relative Mykola Punov was brutally beaten for having defended the Ukrainian flag, and instead of going to the stadium to watch the match, he was taken to the hospital and had stitches on his head,” Hryshyn wrote.
Witnesses to the attack said that the assailants acted in an organized manner and were “Russian ultras who live in Germany.”
