Close down football club, BDP suggests

ISTANBUL

BDP Women Assembly accused Bursaspor fans of being ‘the symbol of the racist, sexist and violent site of football in Turkey.’ AA photo

The Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) Women Assembly has protested an attack on Women’s Day demonstrators in Istanbul supposedly perpetrated by Bursaspor fans, demanding the closure of the northwestern Turkish club.

“Hooligans, who have been the symbol of the racist, sexist and violent site of football in Turkey, attacked a crowd in Kadıköy that was protesting violence against women by males and the state, and wounded female comrades, two of them seriously,” a statement by the BDP said, according to daily Milliyet.

Uniformed police officers seriously beat Mücahit Bingöl at the same event, the statement said. Bursaspor was playing against Fenerbahçe on March 10 in Kadıköy’s Sükrü Saracoğlu Stadium.

The statement called on authorities and the football federation to take measures against Bursaspor and even close the club, claiming that the fan group had been involved in former attacks, including a previous altercation with Diyarbakırspor fans.