An idyllic springtime morning in the sleepy village of Stutzerbach was disturbed on Tuesday with hundreds of German police taking on “soccer hooligans” in preparation for UEFA Euro 2024.
Birds were chirping and golden sunshine was starting to warm a new day when a train of trouble arrived to shatter the peaceful scene at the village station.
About 200 trainee police officers were on board to play the role of violent soccer fans. They were met by local state police, who quickly called hundreds of federal police to assist as the situation was simulated toward getting out of hand.
Photo: AP
The train’s walls shook as the “hooligans” rampaged inside, singing, chanting and cheering. They burst out of the train when the federal police arrived, setting off loud pyrotechnics that sent clouds of red and white smoke up to the clear blue sky.
Germany hosts the Euros from June 14 to July 14, when security would be a priority with hundreds of thousands of fans expected for the 24-country soccer tournament.
“As police we have to be prepared because there’s the potential risk of hooligans or violent people. Today we use the chance to train for those circumstances — how to stop them, how to communicate with them and also how to force them if they’ve done any trouble,” Thuringia Police spokesman Karsten Taschner said. “The main goal of today’s practice is to see how the federal and the state police are cooperating together.”
Altogether about 600 police were involved in Tuesday’s training, including about 100 off-site officers and the 200 police trainees.
The police forbade any filming or photography from inside a sealed-off training area where officers processed the supposed troublemakers. They simulated identifying individuals, recording them, registering them, and issuing stadium and other location bans.
Police in riot gear waited outside the train while the “hooligans” were kept inside. They were taken out one at a time for processing. Officers on both sides of an individual would grip the person by holding their hands in unnatural positions to prevent them escaping.
A police drone flew overhead to record the exercises.
“We use modern techniques, like a super recognizer, special officers with extraordinary skills to detect people we are looking for especially,” Taschner said.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS