Status: 10/15/2022 7:54 p.m
The police operation at the Hamburg city duel caused discussions. A complaint has now been filed against a police officer and criminal proceedings have been opened – after beating a trailer. The police took 47 people into custody and later explained their actions in an interview with the NDR.
After the march of around 3,500 HSV fans through St. Pauli, clashes broke out between Ultra fans of FC St. Pauli and the police in front of the Millerntor Stadium. The police used water cannons, a cavalry squadron and the riot police to keep the two fan camps apart and thus prevent riots. According to the police, 1,445 officers were on duty. Since it was a risky game, the security precautions in Hamburg had been strengthened.
Occasional use of pyrotechnics
According to the police, some pyrotechnics were burned off during the march of the HSV fans from the Altona balcony via the Reeperbahn to the stadium. Other than that, the march was peaceful. At the Millerntor Stadium there was almost a collision between HSV and St. Pauli supporters: around 150 to 200 St. Pauli fans dressed in black and masked with red scarves rushed towards the HSV fans. However, the police were able to stop this. The followers are assigned to the “Rotsport St. Pauli” group.
AUDIO: Discussion about police action at city derby (1 min)
FC St. Pauli criticizes the police
According to the NDR 90.3 police reporter, the police then ran into the crowd several times to grab some of the masked St. Pauli supporters. Several people fell to the ground, some were arrested. An Internet video shows a St. Pauli fan lying on the ground being beaten by a police officer. FC St. Pauli tweeted that several people were injured in a massive police operation.
Fan groups accuse authorities of police violence
Some fans will be arrested by the police on Friday.
In view of the available videos and eyewitness reports, the urgent question of proportionality arises, according to the association. FC St. Pauli is demanding clarification from the police, said club spokesman Patrick Gensing. Meanwhile, the criticism of the police operation is getting louder. The fan blog “Magischer FC” speaks of police violence. As a football fan in Germany, one must always expect that physical health will be intentionally endangered – by those who are actually supposed to protect it. The fan blog “MillernTon” writes of an escalation by the police: Their units ran aggressively into a crowd in front of the stadium.
criminal proceedings against police officers
According to information from the NDR Hamburg Journal, a complaint has now been filed against the police officer in the video, which has been viewed umpteen times, and criminal proceedings have been opened – after beating a trailer. In addition, the police check the legality and proportionality of the actions of their colleague. The Hamburg police reacted on Twitter on Friday and wrote: “Parts of this group were taken into custody. A video circulating on the Internet shows such a detention, in which a police officer uses coercion in the form of physical violence.” The background is not yet clear.
statement on Friday evening
Police spokeswoman Sandra Levgrün commented on this in the evening: The video obviously shows the detention of a subgroup of St. Pauli fans who had previously tried to attack the HSV fans: “Why the colleague had to use direct force in the situation, that will be we can certainly clarify afterwards, even if it was proportionate.”
Police spokeswoman: “Such situations do not look nice”
Levgrün added: “Such situations don’t look nice. It has something to do with physical coercion, with direct coercion that we use at the point. And these people put up resistance. In this respect, the situations look ugly, that’s also for them The police aren’t nice, but they have to be. We can’t just let them go just because we feel resistance.” The direct coercion of the police must be enforced, according to Levgrün. “And that’s what we do, and then there are also pictures that don’t look particularly good.”
The game, which FC St. Pauli won 3-0, was the first city duel in two and a half years without corona restrictions.
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