Riga, Latvia – Thick black smoke billowed across Skonto Stadium as fans of the Israeli football team, Beitar Jerusalem, defied UEFA rules, setting off several rounds of pyrotechnics.With only one minute played of the UEFA Conference League qualifier match against Riga FC, Latvian fans looked bewildered as a Beitar fan, wearing a black balaclava, nonchalantly threw a succession of fireworks around the stand, causing a small fire and scorching parts of the away stand.A banner displaying the name of Beitar supporters’ fan club, “La Familia”, sat draped across the stands. The notoriously racist fan club, which is known for its anti-Arab chants and violent behaviour, has in the past come up against the police in Israel.In 2016, an undercover police operation resulted in the arrest of 56 fans on suspicion of smuggling weapons and violence.On Thursday, one Beitar fan held up an Israeli flag in the home stand, garnering cheers from other Beitar fans, but angry stewards ushered them down the steps and into the away stand.The team, which in its 89-year history has never signed an Arab player, boasts right-wing Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir among its supporters. It is currently playing its home matches in Romania due to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and travelled to Latvia just …
