German police halted a practice carrying soccer followers between the northern German cities of Rostock and Hamburg on Saturday night time, recording the identities of 855 Hamburg supporters in an operation that lasted round six hours.
The Hamburg (HSV) followers have been coming back from their group’s second-division fixture away at Hansa Rostock (2-2) when some 400 officers stopped the practice at round 8 p.m. native time within the city of Bergedorf, simply exterior Hamburg.
Police mentioned they have been on the lookout for 60 individuals allegedly concerned in an incident on September 16, 2023, when a brawl broke out at Mannheim primary station between HSV followers who have been on their strategy to the southwestern city of Elversberg and Borussia Dortmund followers who have been en path to Freiburg, close to the Swiss border.
They have been additionally on the lookout for followers who had allegedly thrown bottles at police at Rostock central station earlier within the night.
Police ‘super-recognizers’ arrange ‘identification lane’
After processing the followers by means of a so-called identification lane with the assistance of specialist “super recognizer” officers, police mentioned they efficiently recognized 52 of these they have been on the lookout for.
Meanwhile, a whole lot of harmless followers and different passengers have been compelled to attend their activate the practice.
Police mentioned no arrests have been made and that every one passengers have been allowed to proceed their journey at round 2.30 a.m. on Sunday morning.
According to German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, the operation brought on delays throughout the area.
In a press release, police mentioned: “Despite the complexity of the case and the difficulties in identifying the culprits, [officers] have made it their aim to identify as many of those responsible as possible.”
Operation lead officer Jan Müller mentioned: “Breach of the peace is a serious crime which threatens the security and peace of our society. We take these acts extremely seriously and are deploying all available resources to identify those responsible.”
Hamburg followers criticize police and announce authorized problem
On Sunday afternoon, the HSV Supporters Club and their authorized representatives slammed the “severe” police operation as “arbitrary, disproportionate and illegal,” describing a “critical situation” on board the practice the place the distribution of water was secured “only thanks to HSV fans.”
They requested that these affected file reviews and mentioned that they’d assist them take authorized steps “including criminal charges against the operation lead.”
At the tip of January, a court docket in Braunschweig dominated {that a} comparable police operation aimed toward supporters of Werder Bremen in 2022 was to a big diploma extreme and unlawful, after a feminine fan pressed prices.
Escalating tensions between followers and police
Saturday night time’s operation got here amid rising tensions between police and soccer followers in Germany forward of the European Championship within the nation this summer season, with each events accusing one another of contributing to the escalation.
While police have accused followers of refusing dialogue with officers and resorting to violence, fan teams and authorized assist organizations have criticized police for his or her more and more aggressive method to policing soccer matches – notably the indiscriminate deployment of pepper spray in confined areas of packed stadiums.
Fan and authorized assist teams have additionally criticized the police database on which the identities and particulars of hundreds of soccer supporters are saved for as much as 5 years.
The Gewalttäter Sport — “violent criminals sport” — database (GTS) incorporates not solely the identities of soccer followers discovered responsible of legal offenses but additionally hundreds of individuals merely caught up in ID checks in reference to soccer matches, comparable to that carried out on 855 individuals in Bergedorf on Saturday night time.
Police say that the GTS database, which has shrunk from over 13,000 individuals in 2011 to five,600 in December final 12 months, permits officers to “take specifically targeted measures and differentiate between troublemakers and non-troublemakers.” Legal assist teams say it infringes information safety legal guidelines and have demanded its abolition.
The present German coalition authorities has promised to assessment the GTS database relating to “legality, deletion deadlines, transparency and data protection.”
Like many different video games throughout Germany, Saturday’s fixture between Hansa Rostock and Hamburg was additionally briefly interrupted by ongoing fan protests towards the German Football League (DFL)’s deliberate take care of a non-public fairness investor.
This article was written utilizing materials from the DPA press company