Police deny pepper-spraying crowd was overreaction

MELBOURNE: Police on Wednesday defended using pepper spray to subdue rowdy elements of the Australian Open crowd, even though the unprecedented move left innocent bystanders choking and distressed.

Police used the spray Tuesday night in a confrontation with fans at the Margaret Court Arena match between Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and Konstantinos Economidis of Greece, the second year ugly scenes have marred the tournament.

"(It's) not an overreaction," Victoria Police superintendent John Cooke told public radio.

Cooke said two officers warned a trio of Economidis supporters yelling obscenities in Greek and English to settle down but they retreated after one of the fans threw a punch at a policeman.

The police returned with reinforcements and used pepper spray when the three fans and others in their group became threatening, Cooke said.

He said 10 spectators who were not among the troublemakers were treated after being affected by the pepper spray, also known as OC spray.

Cooke said while such "secondary exposure" of bystanders was unfortunate, the situation would have been worse if police had not used the spray.

"Had we not used the OC spray and resorted to a physical confrontation, one-on-one, in that sort of environment, I can guarantee we would have ended up with injuries," he said.

"There would have been more to complain about this morning about our response than the short effects of OC spray."

Eyewitnesses said the number of people affected by the spray was much higher than the figure acknowledged by police, reporting that many pored water on their eyes rather than seeking treatment from authorities.

Elena Arapu said she was sitting behind the group targeted by police when the pepper spray was used.

"Everyone was running for the exits, little kids, everyone," she told Melbourne's Age newspaper. "Me and my friend were sprayed, we couldn't breathe.

"All they (the fans) were doing was chanting, it was a complete overreaction."

The three fans who sparked the incident were Wednesday banned from returning to the tournament this year.

The Open last year was blighted by ugly ethnic violence on the opening day when Serbian and Croatian fans, wearing the national colors of the bitter Balkan rivals, clashed using flagpoles, bottles and boots.

Police at the time were criticized for being caught unawares by the violence, which at the time was unprecendented at a tennis Grand Slam.

Tournament director Craig Tiley announced a zero-tolerance towards crowd misbehaviour in the wake of last year's trouble and backed the police actions on Tuesday night.

"Certainly in this case the actions that they were forced to take were the correct actions," he told reporters.

"We absolutely believe that there's been no damage to the reputation of the Open, we are disappointed that the behavior of a very small group of people does impact on the enjoyment of the fans."

Tiley said any tennis fans who were accidentally hit by pepper spray should lodge a report with the police.

AFP

(China Daily 01/17/2008 page24)