Red Star fans wheel out tank ahead of match

Red Star Belgrade fans stirred controversy after parking an army tank outside their stadium ahead of their Champions League play-off second leg against Swiss side Young Boys yesterday. The tank, a refurbished T-55 purchased from an army depot, was parked outside the stadium as an “attraction”, the Serbian club said on their Facebook page.

However, the move divided fans and drew strong condemnation in neighbouring Croatia, who saw the tank as a symbol of the assault by Serb forces on the city of Vukovar at the start of the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s. An article in leading Croatian sports daily Sportske novosti slammed the “morbid provocation from Belgrade”.

“They want to play in the Champions League as they celebrate one of the worst crimes,” the newspaper wrote. Online news site Index.hr also accused Red Star of “displaying a Vukovar tank in front of their stadium”, although neither the club nor its supporters presented it that way.