Soccer Extreme : A 28-year-old French soccer fan died in a Belgrade hospital on Tuesday after being injured in violence ahead of a Europa League match between Partizan Belgrade and Toulouse earlier this month.Brice Taton sustained multiple injuries to his head and chest after a group of Partizan fans attacked him with iron bars and baseball bats in a central Belgrade bar on Sept. 17.
"Brice Taton died at 10 a.m. this morning," Belgrade's Medical Centre spokesman Drago Jovanovic said.
The violence, during which two other fans were slightly injured, took place several hours before Serbian champions Partizan and French first division side Toulouse played their Group J opener, which Toulouse won 3-2.
Police have arrested 11 assailants, including one they called the main perpetrator.
French Sports Minister Rama Yade issued a statement expressing condolences for the "barbaric" attack on Taton.
"This tragic event has grieved the whole of European football but cannot go unpunished: I call for the greatest severity against those responsible for this murder and I support the efforts of the Serbian authorities," she said.
She said she had been in touch with Belgrade and would speak to UEFA to "evaluate the means needed to protect football against this gangrene that is eating away at it."
Serbian authorities have expressed concern in recent weeks after several attacks on foreigners. At the last minute earlier this month, they withdrew permission for a gay pride rally in central Belgrade amid threats of violence.
Last week Serbia's public prosecutor asked the constitutional court to ban two far-right groups.
Soccer violence was rare in Serbia, and in the rest of Yugoslavia, under communist rule. It erupted after bloody conflicts in the Balkans tore Yugoslavia apart, resulting in what many experts say was a decline in moral and social values.
Taton appears to be the first foreign victim of soccer-related violence in Serbia, though Serbs have died in a rash of similar incidents in the last ten years.
A 17-year-old Red Star Belgrade fan died in 1999 when he was hit by a flare launched by Partizan fans from their end of the stadium during a city derby.
In August 2007 Partizan were thrown out of the UEFA Cup, the Europa League's predecessor, after their fans caused trouble at Bosnian rivals Zrinjski Mostar.
In December 2007, a Red Star Belgrade fan attacked a plainclothes police officer with a burning flare during a league match, and in September 2008 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of attempted murder.
In April 2008, a Partizan fan was killed in a fight with Vojvodina Novi Sad rivals before a league match, and in August 2009 dozens of Red Star fans were arrested in Prague for hooliganism before their Europa League match against local rivals Slavia (reuters)