Four persons were injured early on Sunday morning at the Amike-Aba area of Abakaliki following a clash between a local vigilance group and jubilant fans of Chelsea FC of England.
The fans were celebrating Chelsea’s first-ever Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League victory over Bayern Munich FC of Germany.
Chelsea achieved this feat through an epic 4-3 penalty shootout victory, which Chelsea recorded over the hard-fighting Bayern Munich.
The two teams had battled to a 1-1 draw during regulation time.
However, the clash between the vigilance group and the Chelsea fans occurred around 12.15 a.m. on Sunday, as the fans celebrated in an unrestrained manner, which attracted the attention of the former.
The vigilance group urged the fans to be moderate in their celebration, an advice that did not go down well with the fans.
The situation led to a verbal confrontation and eventually resulted in a fracas after a fan that had lost control of his motorcycle almost ran into the vigilance personnel.
The officers escaped unhurt as they saw the motorcyclist on time.
Following the fracas the vigilance personnel arrested some of the fans while the others escaped from the scene of the clash.
When contacted over the incident, Mr. Ephraim Ajali, an official of the vigilance group said that those arrested released after intervention by their parents and other residents of the area.
“Luckily for the boys, they were not among the notorious ones who disrupted the peace of the area as we discovered that they acted under the influence of alcohol which they had consumed recklessly.
“Their parents signed an undertaking to offset the medical bill of our wounded officer and a pledge that the boys would be of good behaviour henceforth.
“We are now aware of the security threats posed by celebrations of European football matches and will be more prepared to deal with such a development in future,’’ he said.
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