The father of the girl who was injured in the second division soccer game in Braunschweig reacted to the events in shock.
“We were standing in front of block six, my daughter had gone to the toilet and was standing next to us again. Then the police officers ran through us like crazy,” the eight-year-old’s father told “Spiegel”. “She was caught on the head by a helmet hanging from the strap, a baton or some other hard object.”
Several people were injured in the riots in the final phase of the game between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hertha BSC on Saturday. However, the representations from the police, the club and fan representatives differed in some respects.
When the father turned around to call after the police officer, he “probably unknowingly hit a police officer on the helmet,” the man told Spiegel. When he wanted to go to his daughter afterwards, he was pushed against the wall by two police officers while others secured security.
“I was shocked, my daughter was completely beside herself. She screamed. My friend picked her up and carried her away,” said the man. In a children’s emergency room, the daughter was found to have a bruised skull and a skin abrasion.
Investigations against the father
“We were unable to verify the descriptions that the girl was said to have been run over and injured during the follow-up,” the Braunschweig police told the “German Press Agency”.
The police had set up an information portal and an investigation team to investigate the incident involving the girl, who was initially mistakenly named as a five-year-old. According to the police, the father is being investigated on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.
Eintracht Braunschweig announced its first measures on Tuesday and apologized for its own mistakes. Among other things, some Berlin football supporters received tickets for the home fans’ area. The consequences were arguments shortly before the end of the game between supporters of both clubs in the north curve, the Lower Saxony team wrote in a statement.
For the next home game on March 8th against Hansa Rostock, measures should be taken “to significantly minimize the number of away fans in the area of the north curve and to ensure better fan separation.” In addition, structural and infrastructural changes would be made in the north curve.