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FOOTBALL

Football hooligans ‘getting more violent’

Violence at football matches in Germany’s top leagues has reached record highs, leaving police struggling to control it, the Interior Ministry said this week.

Published: 11 January 2012 07:25 CET
Football hooligans 'getting more violent'
Photo: DPA

The 846 people injured in hooliganism incidents during the 2010-2011 season in Germany’s top two football divisions was largest number ever, the ministry said in an answer to a parliamentary question.

Police forces were facing increased aggression from members of so-called “ultra” fan groups which are often blamed for starting fights and riots.

“Violent riots have for years been at a high level, but a long-term increase in more violent activity can be observed,” the ministry said.

Over the past 12 seasons, 1,165 police officers and 4,044 unruly fans or innocent bystanders have been hurt during football matches, while 41,335 people have been arrested, the ministry reported.

Hooliganism is a constant problem in German football with authorities and football associations repeatedly failing to put a damper on it.

Last weekend Hamburg police cancelled an indoor tournament after admitting they could not prevent violent clashes between fans.

And in November, officials took the drastic step of banning second division team Dynamo Dresden from next season’s German Cup because of fan rioting following a defeat.

The troubles are not limited to the country’s top divisions – in September, security officials said safety was particular poor in third, fourth and fifth divisions and security had been neglected in the lower leagues.

DPA/The Local/mdm

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CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

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