Two charged over incident in connection with Arsenal’s Özil and Kolasinac
Two men have been charged with a public order offence in connection with a “security incident” involving Mesut Özil and Sead Kolasinac in London.
Arsenal announced on Friday that Ozil and Sead Kolasinac would not be in their squad for Sunday’s Premier League opener at Newcastle due to “further security incidents” which is being investigated by the police.
Ferhat Ercan, of Highgate, and Salaman Ekinci, of Tottenham, were arrested and charged on August 9 following the incident in Camden.
The two men, both 27, are due before the Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 6 September.
Reports suggested the men were arrested after becoming involved in an altercation with security staff outside Ozil’s house. Section 4a of the Public Order Act refers to offences of intentional harassment, alarm or distress, through threatening, abusive or insulting words, behaviour or displays.
An Arsenal spokesperson said both players were fine after the attack, and Kolasinac posted a photo of the pair smiling on Instagram saying: “Think we’re fine. Thanks for the messages!”
But Arsenal manager Unai Emery omitted the duo from a friendly against Lyon, saying that they were “not ready” to play the match.
“It’s not a good moment to play because their mind is not now 100 per cent,” Mr Emery said. “It’s a very personal circumstance and the most important thing now is that they can feel good, they can feel safe, they can feel calm with their family.”
The pair were also targeted by carjackers in North London in a separate, unrelated incident in July.
Police said they were treating the public order offence and the attempted car-jacking as separate incidents.
