15 injured football fans and 17 injured police officers. The police and fan representatives hold each other responsible for this balance sheet surrounding the second division game between FC St. Pauli and Hannover 96 on Friday. The DFB is investigating, the fronts have hardened. But is there a solution to the ongoing conflict between fans and the police?
The reason for the renewed escalation in the ongoing conflict between fans and police are the incidents in and at Hamburg’s Millerntor Stadium, which overshadowed the second division game between FC St. Pauli and Hannover 96 on Friday evening. The DFB announced on Sunday that the control committee would initiate an investigation. There were violent clashes with the police both in the Lower Saxony fan block and later during a fan march of, according to police reports, around 300 FC St. Pauli supporters. Both sides blame each other for this.
Fan Aid Hanover: Deployment “disproportionate”
The Fanhilfe Hannover described the deployment of security forces in the Millerntor Stadium as “disproportionate”, and some supporters of the opponent also expressed solidarity with the 96 fans and chanted against the officials. Hannover 96 announced on Sunday that it would investigate the criticism of the proportionality of the police operation in and around the guest block through the fan representatives.
The club agreed with “FC St. Pauli’s assessment that, in particular, the use of irritating gas from the interior towards the block, which is documented in numerous videos on social media, needs to be addressed.” St. Pauli President Oke Göttlich said on Saturday that they were “disturbing impressions that will seriously damage football and fan culture and hopefully will not lead to further escalations.”
Police chief: Not “fan culture”, but “violent criminals”
The police see it differently. “I have no understanding whatsoever of the rioters’ behavior. We are not dealing here with fan culture, but with violent criminals who must be held accountable,” said Hamburg police chief Falk Schnabel. After the end of the game, the emergency services were attacked by a fan march, so that several people were injured, including a seriously injured police officer, said Schnabel.
Our curve: “Escalation pre-programmed”
“I can’t imagine under what conditions it would be a smart idea to storm into a full block of football fans. Escalation is inevitable,” said fan representative Dario Minden from the “Our Curve” alliance, the cross-club association of the organized ones Football fans in Germany. “We have never experienced such an orgy of violence from the police at football games,” explained a spokesman for Fanhilfe Hannover.
The German Police Union (DPolG) Hamburg, however, criticized the “violent attacks” against the officers “in the strongest possible terms”. Klemens Burzlaff, 1st Deputy State Chairman of the DPolG called on “the Hamburg football clubs HSV and FC St. Pauli to finally contribute to the police costs for high-risk games.”
Fan-police dialogue “remote from reality”
The conflict between police and fans seems to be difficult to resolve: “The situation is deadlocked, a solution in a kind of fan-police dialogue is unfortunately unrealistic,” said Minden. “On the fan side there are no representative structures and certainly often no interest in dialogue at all, while on the other side there is a police force that often acts unlawfully.”
The police justified the operation in the guest block at Millerntor by saying that “a male person had obviously been severely attacked”. She said she went to the block to “prevent something worse from happening.” The emergency services were then attacked by 96 fans. At times there were fights and throwing of cups and poles. The emergency services used pepper spray against away fans, which later caused criticism.
Fan researcher Pilz: More police also provokes more violence
After the violent riots in the Lower Saxony duel between Hannover and Eintracht Braunschweig a week ago, in which a police officer was seriously injured, fan researcher Gunter Pilz had doubted the sense of the massive police appearance. “More police does not ensure more security. On the contrary: more police also provoke more violence,” the 78-year-old sports sociologist told the “Braunschweiger Zeitung”. Fan researcher Jonas Gabler had already spoken of “wave movements” in March with regard to violence in stadiums. The massive appearance of the police would leave fans with the feeling that the police are not taking a differentiated approach.
Fan representative Minden goes in a similar direction: “Yes, there is a problem with violence at football games. A complex problem for which, unfortunately, there are no simple solutions. Unfortunately, as an active football fan, you often get the feeling that the police are not here as part of the solution, but as part of the problem.”
Next St. Pauli home game against HSV
The St. Pauli fan shop appealed to both sides – fans and police – on NDR 90.3, not least with a view to the next home game on December 1st against HSV: “We would find it very pleasing if all sides de-escalated.” Especially before the city derby there is “a special tension”. Discussions with fan representatives would also be held in advance.
Hannover 96 also pleaded on Sunday that the “pictures, which are unpleasant for everyone involved, should now be seen as an impetus to develop common solutions for the future.”
This topic in the program:
Sports field | November 12, 2023 | 6:00 p.m
