Victoria Police used pepper spray to subdue a group of rowdy fans who clashed during the Australian Open first-round match between Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and Greek qualifier Konstantinos Economidis in Margaret Court Arena on Tuesday.
The incident came a year after Serbian and Croatian fans, clad in their country's national colors, clashed in confrontation outside of Melbourne Park. That melee prompted Tennis Australia officials to institute a zero-tolerance policy on unruly behavior at the Open.
Today's clash of fans caused the match to be halted for five minutes while police moved in to restore order. Victoria police said a group of fans began taunting other fans with offensive chants. Police identified the rowdy fans and warned them, but the chants resumed. When police returned to remove a man instigating the chants from the stadium, the crowd "became aggressive and threatening" prompting police to use pepper spray.
"As police tried to remove one man others in the crowd became aggressive and threatening towards them," senior constable Adam West said in a statement. "Fearing for their safety the members have deployed OC spray to keep aggressive patrons at bay. As a result three men were ejected and have been interviewed for assault police, fail to obey lawful direction and indecent language."
Play eventually resumed and the seventh-seeded Gonzalez completed a 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-1, victory.
"It was strange. It's never happened to me before," Economidis told the media in comments published by the AAP. "I don't know exactly what caused it or what happened out there. I was focused on my match and I am really sad that this has taken place. It's not something that anybody wanted. It was a great atmosphere except for this certain point of the match that this incident happened. I am really unhappy about what happened."
Superintendent John Cooke said the police acted with "restraint."
"Our members have acted with restraint and professionally in a very difficult situation," Cooke said. "They have out full support and have managed to diffuse a hostile situation without any injuries."
