Regional league game cancelled
Face tattoo convicts firecrackers from Essen
02/25/2022, 2:47 p.m
The regional league top game between Essen and Münster was shaken by an explosion last Sunday. The game is stopped after a spectator throws a firecracker. Three Munster suffer injuries. The perpetrator is now being identified by the police.
A conspicuous facial tattoo put the Essen police on the trail of the suspected firecracker at the top game in the West Regional Football League between Rot-Weiss Essen and Preußen Münster last Sunday. It is about a 29-year-old father who, according to initial findings, acted as a lone perpetrator. The man was arrested on Thursday without resisting, said the Essen senior prosecutor Anette Milk. His motive is still unclear.
The game was stopped after the cannon was thrown. There should be a sports court procedure for the process. The suspect is being investigated for causing dangerous bodily harm and causing an explosive explosion, Milk said. An arrest warrant was only overridden against daily reporting requirements. A nationwide stadium ban was also imposed. The suspect did not comment on the crime. Numerous RWE fans made a significant contribution to the quick clarification by providing witness information, stressed Essen police chief Frank Richter.
When the score was 1:1, shortly after the guests equalized in the 72nd minute, a so-called Poland firecracker flew out of the Essen fan curve in the direction of the field, where Münster’s substitutes were staying. A player suffered a blast trauma, another was also injured. The referee had already interrupted the match at this point – and after almost half an hour of interruption he didn’t start again.
RWE club president Marcus Uhlig called the firecracker throw an “obviously insane act by an individual”. The entire RWE fan scene distanced itself from this and helped the police with a double-digit number of references to the crime. RWE has commissioned a new video surveillance system for the stadium so that riots in the stadium can be better understood in the future. Even with the admission controls “everything is under scrutiny”. 100 percent security against individual perpetrators is not possible in a football stadium, said Uhlig.