Fan expert Michael Gabriel sees the recent riots in the European Cup as evidence of a growing willingness to use violence.
“In our opinion, this has become even more important and valuable within the ultra groups,” said the head of the fan projects coordination office on “Deutschlandfunk”.
In certain games, supporters for whom the topic of violence has a positive connotation “dominate and set the tone, so to speak,” Gabriel explained.
Most recently there had been violent fan riots at the guest appearances of 1. FC Köln in Nice and Eintracht Frankfurt in Marseille. According to Gabriel, the recent increase in violent incidents at the international level is worrying and “very, very disturbing” in its dimensions.
In his opinion, it was lucky that “there were no deaths” in the two European Cup games in France.