After the police harassment: Shortly before 7 p.m., the Werder ultras were back home long ago (Wolfsburg, August 6, 2022)
Wolfsburg. Everything as usual, also at the start of the Bundesliga. The image of the football fan as an enemy has been practiced for years, especially by the police. In the run-up to the first-division match on Saturday between VfL Wolfsburg and newly promoted Werder Bremen, trailers arriving from the Weser were arrested at the Autostadt main station. The Lower Saxony police used a “control point” to prevent fans from going to the stadium. By loudspeaker announcement, the operations management announced a “no-residence zone to avert danger” for the Wolfsburg city area, which could only be crossed with police escort.
Not only that: Werder supporters had to undergo an identity check at times, were physically searched and filmed individually, the Green-White Help stated in a statement on Saturday evening. No reason, no suspicion. “It is unacceptable when hundreds of fans are put under general suspicion,” said Fanhilfe. The result: the active fan scene decided not to visit the stadium in protest – and started the journey home.
Werder’s club leadership expressed solidarity with the Ultras in a tweet and condemned “the measures taken”. Support also came from the enemy. Wolfsburg’s sports director Jörg Schmadtke criticized the police action on Sunday. “If this gait of the officers is standard, it calls the entire police work into question for me,” he said Wolfsburg General Newspaper. The Green-White Aid is considering legal action against “security policy activism”.
