The Dinamo Zagreb–Red Star Belgrade riot was a football riot which took place on 13 May 1990 at

Maksimir Stadium Maksimir Stadium (, ) is a multi-use stadium in Zagreb, Croatia. Named after the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir, it is one of the largest stadiums in the country with a current seating capacity of 25,912 and a maximum possible capacity ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

, then part of

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, between the Bad Blue Boys (supporters of

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

) and the Delije (supporters of

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

). The incident took place just weeks after Croatia's first multi-party elections in almost fifty years in which the parties favouring Croatian independence had won the majority of votes. The riot resulted in over sixty people wounded, including some stabbed, shot or poisoned by

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

Background

Tension between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade was always high as they consistently placed at the top of the Yugoslav First League and often won the national championships. In 1990, this fierce rivalry was heightened due to rising ethnic tensions in Yugoslavia. The first multi-party elections were held in most of Yugoslavia and

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

was ousted in favour of more

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

parties. The second round of voting in Croatia was held on 6 May when the

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union (, , HDZ) is a major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. Since 2016, it has been the ruling political party in Croatia under the incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It is one of the ...

(HDZ) won under

Franjo Tuđman Franjo Tuđman (14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999) was a Croatian politician and historian who became the first president of Croatia, from 1990 until his death in 1999. He served following the Independence of Croatia, country's independe ...

. Croatia and Slovenia, under new leadership, were the leading forces behind a drive to reorganize Yugoslavia into a confederation, but were opposed by Serbia under

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

and the still powerful communist system at state-level. Approximately 3,000 Delije (Red Star fans) made the trip to

. Between 15,000 and 20,000 spectators were estimated to have attended the game. The Delije were led by Željko Ražnatović (also known as "Arkan"), a

Serbian nationalist Serbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, ...

, wanted for various robberies and murders in Europe, who would soon be leading the Serb Volunteer Guard to commit

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

during the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. Many fans of both Red Star and Dinamo would fight in the subsequent wars, with some of the Delije joining Arkan's paramilitary organization. Both Dinamo and Red Star had violent undertones and essentially functioned as paramilitary organizations, rather than mere football fan clubs.

The clash

Up to several hours before the kick-off, skirmishes were reported around Zagreb between Red Star fans (Delije) and Dinamo fans ( Bad Blue Boys), which then carried over to

. Provoked by stones reportedly being thrown by the Bad Blue Boys, the Delije, situated in the stadium's segregated area reserved for visiting fans, began to tear up the advertising plates and eventually made their way to Dinamo fans. The Delije proceeded to attack them with torn-off seats after reportedly chanting Serbian nationalist slogans like, "Zagreb is Serbian" and, "We'll kill Tuđman". Revolted by what they saw, the Bad Blue Boys at the north and east stands attempted to storm the pitch, but were quickly pushed back by the police wielding batons and

. Within minutes the situation got out of hand as the Bad Blue Boys could no longer be held back. They breached the fence and took to the pitch to charge at their Serbian counterparts. The police were quickly overwhelmed but came back with reinforcements, using armored vans and

water cannon A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining. ...

s to disperse the rioters. More than an hour later, after the stadium was set on fire, the riot was brought under control. The police were later deemed to have been too lenient with Delije during their early sporadic outbursts, which sparked the larger riot.

Zvonimir Boban's kick

Amidst the chaos several Dinamo players still remained on the pitch, the Red Star players having already left for the locker rooms.

Zvonimir Boban Zvonimir Boban (; born 8 October 1968) is a Croatian former professional footballer who works at UEFA as the Chief of Football. A midfielder, Boban played most of his career for Italian club AC Milan with whom he won four Serie A titles and one ...

, the Dinamo

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, kicked a police officer, Refik Ahmetović (an ethnic

Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

), who was allegedly mistreating a Dinamo supporter. The Bad Blue Boys came to Boban's defence, acting as human shield. The event would later come to symbolize in the minds of Croat nationalists the beginning of Croatian resistance against Serbia. Boban was proclaimed a national hero of Croatia, but also attained a Croat nationalist reputation in Serbia. He was suspended by the Football Association of Yugoslavia (FSJ) for six months, missing the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

, and had criminal charges filed against him. The officer he had attacked publicly forgave Boban for his actions several years later.

Aftermath

The riot marked the beginning of the end for the Yugoslav First League. By the end of the following 1990–91 season, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia. With that, both new countries formed their own football league systems ( Croatian football league system and Slovenian football league system), withdrawing from the Yugoslav system. The Yugoslav First League lasted for one more season after that, but by the end of 1991–92 season the ongoing

breakup of Yugoslavia After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...

was well underway.

Impact

The Dinamo-Red Star riot is believed by some to have sparked the ensuing

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

. This narrative has been popularized through documentaries and journalistic pieces. However, recent examinations show that this myth reflected the subsequent events to come rather than the other way around. Detractors from this view also cite other football-related controversies that followed the rest of that summer. For Croatians, Boban's actions along with those of the Bad Blue Boys came to be symbolic, representing a foundational moment in their desire for an independent Croatia. In Croatian media, unsubstantiated theories have been presented to demonstrate that the violence was planned by Yugoslav secret services and Serb police chiefs. Columnist Franklin Foer writes, "To anyone watching, it was clear that both Serbs and Croats had come ready to fight. Rocks had been carefully stockpiled in the stadium before the game, waiting to be thrown. Acid had been strategically stored so that Croatian fans could burn through the fences separating them from their Serbian counterparts".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinamo Zagreb-Red Star Belgrade riot Association football riots 1990 riots 1990s in Zagreb 1989–90 in Croatian football Breakup of Yugoslavia Riots and civil disorder in Croatia Riots and civil disorder in Yugoslavia

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...