Reul: “Danger is abstractly high”
Security situation is “tense” ahead of the European Championship
04.06.2024, 13:11
The European Football Championship begins in Germany in ten days. The security authorities are prepared for a “major effort,” assures and warns Interior Minister Faeser. An incident at the international match in Nuremberg becomes a symbol of the “tense” situation.
At around midnight, no one was allowed to leave the Max-Morlock Stadium. After the atmospheric start of the European Championship test matches, the police suddenly warned over loudspeakers of a “specific dangerous situation outside the stadium”; even the team coached by national coach Julian Nagelsmann had to remain in the arena after the 0:0 draw against Ukraine. It was not until a quarter of an hour later that the all-clear was given. “Our emergency services were able to clarify the situation. There was no danger,” said a police announcement.
And yet the incident makes the sensitive situation more than clear just over a week before the start of the European Championships, with security at the highest level of alert. The security situation is “tense,” said Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser emphatically at the federal press conference. Even if there are currently “no concrete indications of danger,” the security authorities are prepared for a “major effort.” It is clear that “100 percent security is not possible.”
Danger is “abstractly high”
Around twelve million fans from all over Europe are expected in the coming weeks. Security is the “highest priority,” Olaf Scholz recently announced. The Chancellor visited the national team in the dressing room a few minutes before the warning was issued in Nuremberg, but had already left when the curfew was announced. The police initially took the situation “very seriously,” the authorities said.
It is not only since this incident that the German security authorities have been assuming a complex threat situation for the European Championships. The focus ranges “from the threat of Islamist terror, to hooligans and other violent criminals, to cyber attacks,” explained Faeser. Defence and combating all “imaginable dangers” are “the top priority.” The “tense political situation” with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East brings “many challenges with it.”
The police will have a “high presence” at all venues and everywhere where there are lots of people. “We are very vigilant,” Faeser stressed, adding that there should be “a peaceful football festival.” However, the danger is “abstractly high. We are taking it seriously so that abstract does not become concrete,” added NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul: “We are as well prepared as possible. But we cannot guarantee it 100 percent. That is not possible.”
“Hooligans also on the way”
Around 350 police officers from the participating European countries will support the German officers, and there is particularly close cooperation with France. There will be a central federal and state police situation center in Neuss. In the so-called “International Police Cooperation Center” (IPCC), all the threads of the security authorities will converge on 500 square meters during the tournament (June 14 to July 14).
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann had warned of the “dark side” of such a home tournament. “Hooligans and riot tourists will also make their way to Germany,” the FDP politician speculated in the “Bild am Sonntag”. This was not the only reason why Faeser reiterated her plans on Tuesday to temporarily reintroduce border controls at all German borders for the duration of the European Championship.
She hopes for another “summer fairytale,” stressed the Interior Minister. The incident in Nuremberg has probably sharpened the senses of the security authorities again, even if the trigger was ultimately just an abandoned suitcase.