Besiktas hit with four-match ban for derby violence

ANKARA: Besiktas will have to play four home matches behind closed doors after they were punished for the violence which caused last weekend’s Istanbul derby against bitter rivals Galatasaray to be abandoned.

The Turkish football federation’s disciplinary board said that the club would also be fined 25,000 (RM109,000) for the riot as well as for insufficient security measures.

On Sunday, fans invaded the pitch, threw seats at police as their team were slipping to a 2-1 defeat.

Fighting began after Galatasaray midfielder Felipe Melo had been red-carded in the second minute of injury time.

Fans chanted: “Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance,” referring to a well-known slogan of the Gezi Park protests that rocked Turkey in June.

Besiktas’ fan club, Carsi Group, was a prominent force in the antigovernment protests sparked by a local campaign to save Istanbul’s central Gezi Park from demolition, which broadened into nationwide demonstrations against the ruling party, seen as increasingly authoritarian.

Turkish police made 20 arrests after the violence.

The disciplinary board also banned Besiktas coach Slaven Bilic from leading the team in three games and gave him a fine of 4,700 (RM20,508) due to his outbursts against the referee.

Melo was suspended for two games and was also fined RM20,508. — AFP