Pro-Palestinian protesters attacked a group of Israeli basketball fans on Sunday in Bilbao, northern Spain, on Saturday.
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Supporters of the Hapoel Holon Basketball Club who were in the Spanish city for the team's FIBA Basketball Champions League tournament were faced with a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the sporting venue and were attacked.
Local media reported that a brawl erupted in the area where fans of Hapoel Holon fans were staying after a group of people, identified in the reports as locals, carried a sign reading "Zionists F*** Off," hoisted Palestinian flags and chanted anti-Israel slogans. According to a report in Walla, the Israeli fans responded by singing Hatikvah – Israel's national anthem – and hurling insults at the rival group, which caused the situation to quickly deteriorate.
CCTV footage from the scene that emerged on social media showed people flinging chairs and other objects at each other as smoke filled the air.
תיעוד: קרבות רחוב בין אוהדי הפועל חולון לתושבי בילבאו לפני משחקה של הקבוצה הערב על המקום ה-3 בליגת האלופות בכדורסל. לטענת האוהדים, הם הותקפו על ידי כמה אנשים ממסעדה סמוכה@lianwildau @hadasgrinberg pic.twitter.com/Fpy1Goiv75
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 8, 2022
"We were literally ambushed," Boaz Yitzhaki, a Hapoel Holon fan, told Israeli media. "We marched to the stadium together. Suddenly, a group of pro-Palestinians started throwing objects at us from a bar decorated with a Palestinian flag. They threw chairs, glasses, and bottles at us. We had families and children with us. It was a very, very scary incident."
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Hapoel Holon Chairman Eitan Lanciano called on Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to intervene, saying, "For several days now, Israeli fans who have come to a sporting event are suffering from antisemitism in Bilbao from pro-Palestinian elements and are preparing for demonstrations and distributing in the media to reach it, and every meeting with Israelis turns into derogatory chants and the throwing objects," Lanciano posted to Twitter.
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein said that he was "appalled" at the violence on display and called for the Spanish government and the International Basketball Federation to take action.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
