Special for Tel Aviv Tribune Net
Tunisia- A new draft law on combating violence and riots in sports stadiums in Tunisia detonated a widespread controversy in sports and human rights circles after its presentation last week to a special committee in parliament before its approval and entry into force starting from the Sports Season 2025-2026.
The new draft law, submitted by the Committee for Education, Vocational Training, Scientific Research, Youth and Sports in the People’s Assembly (Parliament), sparked different positions between those who considered it a calamity of freedoms and the rights of sports fans inside the stadiums and between parties that went to be an important step on the path of reducing the level of violence and sabotage in football fields in particular.
The draft law, which is expected to be presented to Parliament to vote next week, stipulates the tightening of penalties for the perpetrators of violence and rioters on the stands or in sports spaces, especially football fields, and reaching the sanctions ladder until 5 years imprisonment against everyone who proves his conviction in riots inside the stadiums.
Restriction of freedoms or the preservation of facilities?
The draft law has sparked violent reactions among the fans of clubs, which expressed concern that the new procedures package will open the door towards further restricting freedoms for sports fans and denying them to enter the stadiums.
Sports circles in Tunisia are witnessing in recent years alarming numbers for the phenomenon of violence in the stadiums, and the Tunisian Football League matches and club participation in African competitions come first as the most competition that records riots and chaos on the stands, followed by the basketball league competition and then volleyball.
Although the Tunisian authorities imposed strict restrictions on the presence of fans in sports stadiums and identified the number of fans at about 50% of the total capacity of the stands, the riots coordination witnessed an increase in recent years, especially at the end of the season.
The new bundle of laws comes with the aim of combating the phenomenon of violence in stadiums by tightening the methods of deterrence and the penalties required for clubs whose fans fall into riots, but it involves restricting the freedoms of football fans and other games, which has produced harsh criticism towards the law that was limited to collective penalties for clubs with financial fines or by playing without the attendance of the public.
The new law, which is originally amending the previous laws to impose a prison sentence ranging between 6 months and 5 years for everyone who commits violence inside or in the fields, besides a fine of no less than 5 thousand dinars for everyone who throws projectiles or uses dates.
While the new draft law has caused harsh criticism by club fans, the Tunisian Football Association believes that combating the phenomena of violence in the stadiums needs a comprehensive approach that takes into account the right of fans to enter sports spaces and encourage their clubs with the necessity of preserving facilities and equipment and avoiding riots.
Wissam Al -Latif, a member of the Tunisian Football Association, told Al -Jazeera Net: “The new law needs to be approved before it is officially started, but the Football Association joins every legislative initiative aimed at eliminating violence and ensuring that sports competitions are in a framework that guarantees the safety of players, officials, referees and fans, and also preserves mathematical equipment from sabotage and damage.”
The spokesman added that “the Tunisian Football Association will present a project within the legal magazine of football before the start of the new season and will include chapters aimed at addressing violence in the stadiums in an organized framework based on reducing the level of chaos and riots on the stands and inside the stadiums while ensuring the right of the fans,” he said.
Continuous bleeding and severe damage
The deterrent legal procedures and even the material stimulation that the Football Association and the Tunisian League Association did not succeed in recent years for the benefit of clubs whose fans do not fall into violence.
The league association granted the 2022-2023 season a weekly financial prize to be awarded to the team that refrains from its fans for violence on the stands, but that did not change the situation, which prompted the association to abandon that procedure.
The president of the Tunisian League, Bousseri Boujalal, told Al -Jazeera Net that the phenomenon of violence in the stadiums has already become the obsession of sports structures without exception, adding that the association and the Football Association will work to implement the law with a commitment to consolidate justice between clubs to avoid escaping and anger among the fans and on the stands.
Regarding the new draft law, which stipulates imprisonment up to 5 years in the event that individuals commit dangerous violence, Boujalal said that “the league association puts the proper functioning of competitions and avoids any riots and therefore it supports the legal initiatives that Parliament offers to address violence and harm the equipment and sports facilities, but at the same time it is keen to ensure justice between clubs and respect the right of the fans to enter the stadiums.”
Last season, violence and riots were recorded on the stands in approximately 20 games, most of which resulted in heavy material damage to the stadiums and injuries to the ranks of the police and fans as a result of the accidents of clashes and quarrels between security and the masses.
The new football season begins in Tunisia on August 3, with the Super Cup final, while the professional league competitions will start on the ninth of the same month.