[Tehsin]

AKC fans target photojournalists
Sports Reporter

A section of Abahani supporters yesterday verbally assaulted photographers of different newspapers and threatened them with dire consequences during the Western Union Premier Division football league match between the Dhanmondi giants and Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

It all started after Abahani's Russian striker Maxim was shown the red card in the 35th minute of the first half. As a furious Maxim made his way to the dressing room, photographers covering the game rushed to take snaps.

As they neared the corridor to the players' enclosure, a group of Abahani fans started hurling expletives and threatened the lensmen for taking Maxim's photos.

The insults continued to rain in for the rest of the game as the photojournalists started feeling insecure.

"I left the stadium under police protection as I feared for my safety. This kind of behaviour from fans directed at mediamen is unprece dented. We have never experienced anything like this on the football ground," said one photojournalist of a leading daily who preferred not to be named.

After the match, the aggrieved photographers complained to Abahani's supporters association chief Julu about the incident but he in turn reportedly accused the journalists saying that they had incited the crowd by swearing at them first.

This year's Premier Division league has already seen a number of unfortunate incidents. Yesterday's events only added a new dimension to the prevalent ugly atmosphere and raised concern about the safety of journalists covering football.