Brawl before England game
Football fans fight in Gelsenkirchen
16.06.2024, 20:26
The Gelsenkirchen police classified the match between England and Serbia as a high-risk game in advance. A few hours before kick-off, the fears seem to have been confirmed. Contrary to initial reports, however, English fans may not have been involved in the altercation.
There were fights in the city center of Gelsenkirchen before the European Championship match between England and Serbia. There were clashes between two large groups of people and a police operation was underway, said a spokesman for the Gelsenkirchen police. Serbian and English fans were involved in the fight and had to be separated by the police. Exact details of the incident still need to be clarified, but the situation is “under control,” they say.
According to the police, seven Serbian fans were taken into custody. In addition, a criminal complaint for grievous bodily harm was filed against a Serb, it is said. No English fans were arrested.
According to the police, there is currently no information about possible injuries. The British newspaper “Guardian” reports that an English fan and a German police officer suffered serious head injuries.
In videos shared on the platform X, chairs and tables can be seen flying through the air, as well as broken glass bottles. “We are aware of the material circulating on X and are evaluating it,” said a police spokesman.
“For once, no English”
The British TV channel Sky Sport News reports that the incident took place in front of a bar where Serbian football fans had gathered. Citing police officers present, the channel also reports that, contrary to official reports, it was not English fans who were involved in the incident, but Albanian ones. The Reuters news agency quoted an English fan who was nearby as saying: “I only saw it from my seat in that bar, but there were no English fans there at all. It was about tables and we thought: ‘Ah, here we go. The English again.’ But for once it wasn’t the English.”
Albania has also qualified for the European Football Championship and played yesterday in neighboring Dortmund. Relations between Serbia and Albania are extremely tense due to Kosovo’s status under international law.
Apart from the incident, things remained largely quiet in the city before the European Championship match. “Other than that, there was nothing unusual or major. We are not aware of any other clashes between fan camps.”
Tens of thousands of English and Serbian
The Gelsenkirchen police had the encounter between England and Serbia (from 9 p.m. on ZDF and in the ntv.de live ticker) was classified as a high-risk game in advance and significantly more officers were planned than for the derby, for example. “For tactical reasons, I cannot give the exact number of officers deployed,” said the Chief Police Director before the game. However, he had never had so many officers available at Schalke 04’s games against Borussia Dortmund.
The police estimate that around 20,000 English people and around 10,000 Serbians have tickets for the game. A further 15,000 English people are said to be in Gelsenkirchen for the public viewing without tickets. Only beer with a reduced alcohol content is served in the stadium itself.