Poland summons Dutch envoy after arrest of Legia Warsaw players

Poland's foreign ministry summoned the Netherlands' ambassador on Saturday to protest over "discriminatory actions" taken by Dutch police against Polish footballers, reported Xinhua.

After Thursday's UEFA Europa Conference League match between AZ Alkmaar and Legia Warsaw, which the Dutch side won 1-0, two Legia players were arrested in connection with a disturbance.

"We are dealing with very serious suspicions that there have been systemic actions by officers of the Dutch state and the city of Alkmaar against Polish citizens. I conveyed a protest to the ambassador against these actions, but also asked for the matter to be explained very thoroughly," Pawel Jablonski, Poland's deputy foreign minister, told reporters after the meeting with Daphne Bergsma, the Netherlands' Ambassador to Poland.

"The point is to ensure that people who are responsible for these types of actions bear the consequences and that the justice system simply takes appropriate action," he added.

According to Jablonski, the Dutch ambassador said that she "completely agrees that the facts in this case need to be established."

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on social media on Friday that he had raised the issue with Mark Rutte, his Dutch counterpart, during an informal European Union Council sitting and had been assured of a rapid clarification of events.

Morawiecki also said he recommended that Poland's foreign ministry take urgent diplomatic measures to clarify the matter.

Dutch police said in a statement that Polish football fans had stormed the stadium's gate before the match and behaved aggressively, as quoted by the Polish radio station RMF FM.

A Legia Warsaw spokesperson said on Friday that the two arrested footballers, Josue and Radovan Pankov, had been released and were on their way to Warsaw. According to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, they attacked one of the security guards.