Women's volleyball team attacked in Turkey, days after football referee punched by club president

A Turkish women’s volleyball was attacked by spectators during a game in Adana leaving one player requiring stitches to her knee, the club’s president said on Wednesday. Mesut Karabulut, president of the club from Malatya, a city severely affected by the February 6 earthquake, announced he had filed a criminal complaint against opponents Imamoglu Belediye and their supporters. “They said unspeakable words to our players and our coaches,” said Karabulut, accusing “an abnormal crowd, mainly men” of throwing both glass and plastic bottles at his team. One player needed five stitches for a cut to her knee. “At the end of the match, the stands weren’t emptied and our athletes weren’t allowed to go to the locker room,” he said. “Glass cups and bottles were thrown onto the court and some tried to get onto the court to beat our athletes.” Several players posted photos on social media of bruises on their legs and arms. Turkey’s women’s volleyball team won this year’s European Championship, but their triumph also led to them coming under attack from religious extremist and ultra-conservative groups. The incident occurred the day after Turkish football was suspended following an attack on a referee by several men, including the president of top-flight Ankaragucu, at the end of a match. Referee Halil Umut Meler was released from hospital in Ankara on Wednesday, after undergoing observations and receiving a phone call from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The leagues will resume play on December 19, with the Turkish football federation on Thursday set to announce sanctions against Ankaragucu, whose president Faruk Koca, a member of Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, has since resigned.