WEST HAM fans were pepper-sprayed by Belgian police after the Hammers’ Europa Conference League win at Anderlecht on Thursday.
Around 50 supporters, including elderly fans, were affected – with some blinded for up to 20 minutes.
The incident occurred as around 1,000 away supporters were being escorted from the stadium back into Brussels city centre.
Brussels police said a number of fans near the front of the group “became aggressive” towards cops who deployed the vicious spray to “push them back”.
Irons supporter Adam Brown, 28, said: “It was horrible, my eyes were burning like there was no tomorrow.
“We were half-way back in the crowd, miles from any trouble if there was any. Innocent people were affected. It’s not on at all.”
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No West Ham fans were arrested in Belgium and were said to be otherwise impeccably behaved.
Met Police sent four officers to the Belgian capital in a strictly liaison capacity.
SunSport has been told Met reps “shrugged it off” and adopted a “not our problem” attitude when fans complained about use of pepper-spray.
A Met statement said: “As people were leaving the stadium following the match, our officers were alerted by fans there had been disorder.
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“Met officers spoke with their counterparts in the Belgian Police to establish what had happened and relayed the information back to fans.”
Gianluca Scamacca gave the Hammers a 1-0 win to extend their Group B lead over their hosts to five points.
Second-placed Anderlecht visit London Stadium for group match four of six on Thursday.
Earlier this year, Paris police apologised for using tear gas on Liverpool supporters during disturbing chaos ahead of the Champions League final.
Full Belgian police statement
In the course of Thursday night, our police forces had to intervene on three occasions in incidents where pepper-spray had to be used to ensure safety.
A first time involved a number of Anderlecht supporters who sought a confrontation with some passing West Ham fans before the start of the match.
In order to protect the West Ham supporters, pepper-spray was deployed against the Anderlecht fans.
A second incident occurred at the end of the match, when Anderlecht supporters tried in various ways to get close to VIPs.
Again, pepper-spray was used to ensure the stewards’ safety, among others.
Finally, there was a third incident during the escort of West Ham supporters after the match.
During this police escort, in which 1,000 fans were escorted to the centre of Brussels, certain supporters walking at the beginning of the escort became aggressive, and continued to put pressure on police forces.
A pushback of this group of supporters then occurred in which pepper-spray had to be used.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
