Violence in Stuttgart German Police Confront English Hooligans
Hundreds of thousands have celebrated the World Cup peacefully across Germany over the past two weeks, but in Stuttgart on Saturday, the country experienced the worst outbreak of hooliganism during the tournament. Police took around 400 predominantly English football fans into temporary preventative custody ahead of England's Sunday match against Ecuador by midday.
The arrests came following rioting on Saturday evening by English fans, causing the authorities to ban many from entering the city center until Monday morning.
Even though the number of hooligans involved was small, it still startled many in Stuttgart, where World Cup celebrations had been peaceful. "This is the first time we've had a confrontation of this scale," conceded Stuttgart Police Chief Siegfried Stumpf, adding that those banned from the city center who had tickets for the match would still be able to attend -- they just weren't welcome at the official city celebrations.
Stephen Thomas, who leads the special British police force that is providing special patrols in World Cup cities where England games are played said the city expects 60,000 "proper football fans" -- and that they shouldn't be compared to the relative handful of hooligans. But he also admitted that the hooligans who did turn up in Stuttgart had "sullied the good reputation of the true football fans."
Drunken English soccer fans rampaged through the streets of downtown Stuttgart on Saturday night after the Germany-Sweden game. They threw chairs, tables and bottles -- injuring five passersby and four police, said Stumpf. Police said some German fans were also involved in the riot.
About 250 police circled the close to 400 rioters, in the end arresting 375 English fans and three Germans. With the exception of three English fans, all were released during the course of the night. Police are considering places charges against those still in custody for insults, bodily injury and destruction of private property. Police fear there could be further problems during the World Cup knock-out round, and a total of 1,900 police have been dispatched in Stuttgart alone to prevent the worst.
With the World Cup entering into the second round, Germany's federal police are undertaking additional measures to keep hooligans from spoiling the party. Over the weekend, border controls were strengthened between Germany and Belgium and the Netherlands. Police are conducting spot checks on the motorways coming into the country and have denied entry to suspected hooligans. But the vast majority of those coming to Germany have been peaceful fans. "The fans aren't bothered by these measures and they even seem to have expected them," a police spokesman said.
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