June 13 – On the eve of Euro 2024, Germany is ramping up its security measures with some 22,000 federal police officers on duty every day of the tournament and extra vigilance at borders and train stations.
England’s tie against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen this weekend has already been cited as high risk by police.
Fans will be served lower alcohol beer than usual in the stadium and will not be able to drink any alcohol in the stands.
“I think it’s a very high-risk game because of the history, because of the hooligans both sides have,” chief Iinspector Christof Burghardt told Sky.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, citing German police intelligence, reported that up to 500 Serbian hooligans planned to arrive.
“Serbia has many hooligans,” said Burghardt. “The English guys, with alcohol, they are sometimes very aggressive. So it’s a great job to do this, to prepare, so that hopefully nothing will happen.”
More than 300,000 British fans are expected to travel to Germany for the tournament and authorities hope to avoid a repeat of the rioting that marred the 2016 tournament in France.
Police spotters will be on hand to help tackle antisocial behaviour and drink-fuelled violence though many of the worst English offenders have been stopped from travelling altogether.
“We currently have approximately 2,000 people on the banning order which basically means they can’t travel to tournaments and they can’t go into football stadiums,” explained chief superintendent Colette Rose from UK Football Policing.
“Over 2,000 troublemakers away from football has made it a much safer place. When you play that out over the last eight to ten years the behaviour of football fans has been far, far better. We had no arrests in Qatar and we had very, very few arrests in the tournaments preceding that.”
As well as the 2.7 million fans in the 10 stadiums where the games are being played, there are also likely to be 12 million in the fan zones.
But Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said everything is being done to ensure the event is safe.
“You can never 100% guarantee security but we are well-prepared and remain very vigilant,” she said.
The threat of a terrorist attack is not lost on German authorities, fuelled by ongoing conflicts. Last month, a police officer was killed and five others injured when an alleged Islamist extremist carried out a knife attack in Mannheim.
“In my opinion, the risk is definitely higher,” Police Director Frank Haring was quoted as saying.
“Because of current political events in Ukraine, in Russia and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, terrorist groups could potentially use events like the European Championship for an attack.”
The tournament presents multiple opportunities for football-related violence which has been increasing steadily around Europe since 2011.
Yet despite the risks, Germany insists it is ready and can protect the millions of fans coming.
“We’re readying for all imaginable dangers with high levels of deployment from all security authorities,” said Faeser, who added the country was preparing for all manner of threats, from hooligans, to terrorists, to cyber criminals. “The police will have a very visible presence.”
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