The increasing fan riots at football games have made the calls from politicians and the police for consequences become louder and also alerted the German Football Association a good seven months before the home European Championship.
“We view the current developments with concern,” the association said in response to a request from the German Press Agency.
The issue of security will be on the minds of the interior ministers of the federal states at their regular conference from Wednesday to Friday in Berlin. The police in particular are hoping for clear signals and tougher measures. “We call on the IMK to discuss the dramatic development of violence by ultra-groups in a separate agenda item and to determine joint action against aggressive and violent ultra-groups,” said Jochen Kopelke, chairman of the police union, to the editorial network Germany.
Riots in Frankfurt reverberate
There have been several recent massive riots at football games. The sad highlight was the riots at the end of November at the Bundesliga game between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart, in which more than 200 people were injured.
“The results of the game show that there is a risk of a loss of control in the arenas,” said the sports policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Stephan Mayer, afterwards. He called for tough action by the public prosecutor and police. “If we don’t take consistent countermeasures, real fans will no longer attend football games in the future – the violent perpetrators would have won,” warned Mayer.
Fan representatives, on the other hand, criticized the “most massive police operation we have ever experienced in the Waldstadion” and spoke of an “escalation strategy by the police”. The emergency services acted “without regard to casualties, including among normal fans, women and children.”
The accusation to the police: “With this excess of violence they wanted to flex their muscles before the 2024 European Championship.” Last weekend, fans in several stadiums from the Bundesliga to the 3rd division protested with strongly worded banners against police violence and for a ban on pepper spray in stadiums.
The fronts are currently hardened. After riots recently broke out in Hanover and Hamburg, Hamburg’s Interior and Sports Senator Andy Grote had already called for consequences. “I think this is a situation that we cannot allow to continue,” said the SPD politician.
The fan researcher Harald Lange, however, warned of stricter measures. “If hardliners get their way with the police, then we will actually see an escalation. The idea of taming a fan culture with law and order is doomed to fail,” said the 55-year-old in a recent interview with the Rhein-Main publishing group. “Fan culture also thrives on crossing borders.”
But the police no longer want to accept this, as the emergency services are increasingly confronted with a hostile atmosphere. “We are currently experiencing a planned and agreed hate campaign against us police officers in stadiums. The violent perpetrators are carrying out a massive perpetrator-victim reversal, although some ultra-groups are bringing hatred, agitation and violence to the stadiums,” complained GdP leader Kopelke.
DFB relies on dialogue before the European Championships
To ensure that the situation does not escalate, the DFB called on both sides to treat each other more respectfully. The association is interested in “that criminals are prosecuted, especially if they exploit football for their own purposes.” However, there should be “no blanket criminalization of fans, just as there should be no prejudgment of police measures.”
The German Football League called on all players to work to “preserve football games as safe and positive experiences in a great atmosphere”. Any form of violence “is incompatible with the values of football, should be clearly condemned and has no place in the stadiums,” said the umbrella organization of professional clubs.
With a view to the European Championship next summer, the DFB is primarily relying on dialogue between everyone involved. The aim is to “create the best possible conditions for an exciting, peaceful and safe tournament in our own country,” said the association.
