2nd league
Police stop regional train and search hundreds of HSV fans
Many of the fans had to wait on the train for hours until they were checked. photo
© dpa
During a major raid, the police check hundreds of HSV fans on a stopped regional train. The fans have to wait on the train for hours. Reason for the action: the search for violent criminals.
According to a spokesman, during the operation the officers were looking for suspected violent perpetrators who are said to have clashed with Borussia Dortmund supporters in September last year. In addition, there were also “physical attacks” in the form of bottle throwing at the main train station there on Saturday evening after HSV’s second division game in Rostock (2:2).
Around 400 emergency services from the Federal Police and the Hamburg State Police Directorate were deployed to control the football fans. According to the information, they began searching the RE1 regional train on which the fans were traveling from Rostock to Hamburg shortly after 8 p.m. The action lasted more than six hours, during which the fans had to stay on the train until they were checked. The large-scale controls resulted in numerous significant delays in regional transport, as Deutsche Bahn announced on X (formerly Twitter).
In total, the police were looking for 60 people who were said to have been involved in the riots on September 16, 2023 and who had not yet been identified, said the head of the Hamburg Federal Police Inspectorate, Jan Müller. At that time, HSV and BVB fans attacked each other in the Mannheim train station and there were injuries on both sides. According to the statement published on Sunday, the police identified 31 suspects in the action on Saturday evening. There were no arrests and all fans were able to continue traveling after their personal details had been checked, said another police spokesman after the control operation had ended.