The Minister-designate of Interior Emad Al-Trabelsi has stressed the need to use sports positively to strengthen national unity and not to inflame public opinion and provoke strife and chaos, talking in his statements about securing football matches within the Libyan Premier League, about the seriousness of the “negative effects” that threaten the security and safety of citizens, and the damage to public and private property as a result of the riots that some matches witnessed recently.
Al-Trabelsi stressed that “what happened last period in several matches of riots and damage to state institutions is unacceptable,” saying that instructions were issued to hold matches without fans in consultation with the Football Federation.
The Minister-designate explained that they had a security plan and arrangements that will be implemented to ensure the security of all sports competitions “without bias towards any particular city, tribe, or sports club.”
He indicated the possibility of considering holding some matches in the presence of fans later, without specifying a date or specific conditions.
The Competitions Committee of the Libyan Football Federation had announced that, in consultation with the Ministry of Interior, it had decided to hold the rest of the league matches without the presence of fans due to riots occurring in several matches, the most recent of which was at Al-Zawiya Stadium in the match between Al -Olymbi and Al-Ittihad, and at Al-Jameel Stadium in the match between Al-Ahly Tripoli and Asaria.
Some clubs objected to this decision, especially Al-Ittihad, which is playing a critical match against Al-Sweihli to decide the candidacy for the six-team round. The club’s General Assembly considered in a statement that this decision came in line with several previous decisions that were designed specifically to keep Al-Ittihad team away from competing for the league title.
