Some KSC fans like to set off pyrotechnics. In the home game against St. Pauli, however, this caused some spectators to feel short of breath.
Photo: imago/ Jan Huebner
Monday was a bridge day, as you would imagine. At 27 degrees in the shade, most people in Baden had a great day off. But while many Karlsruhe residents enjoyed the day at swimming lakes or in the Black Forest, the three employees of the Karlsruhe fan project were summoned to the district court on Monday. It wasn’t until midday that they knew that their worst fears would not come true and that they would not have to go to prison for up to six months in the foreseeable future. The decision has only been postponed after the witness hearing on Monday, at which the three again did not make any statements. Within a week, the public prosecutor can decide whether to formally apply for preventive detention. This is exactly what is being considered because the three social workers still refuse to make statements about a pyrotechnics incident last November. It would be the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that social workers would have to go to prison because they were confronted with public prosecutor’s investigations while exercising their profession.
This is also one reason why the Karlsruhe case has long been making waves across the country and why the debate about the right to refuse to give evidence for social work will soon be a concern for parliaments again. Fan social workers are not yet equipped with the right to refuse to testify that, for example, lawyers, journalists and pastors have. If they had, the justice system would not have been able to target them. The public prosecutor’s office therefore argues that it is “obliged to investigate crimes and to use all possible evidence for this purpose.” That is precisely the political dimension of the process, which has long since reached far beyond Karlsruhe.
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The reason for the investigation was the events at Karlsruher SC’s home game against St. Pauli last November. At that time, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of an ultra group, pyrotechnics were set off so massively that the game only started with a delay of 15 minutes. Eleven people subsequently complained of breathing difficulties or nausea, including one child.
The Ultras had simply not taken into account that the smoke would build up under the protruding roof in the new stadium, but afterwards they showed understanding. Representatives of numerous fan groups took part in a “reparation discussion” through the mediation of the club and the fan project and compensated the victims, none of whom later filed a complaint. For everyone involved, it is said in the club and in the fan scene, the matter had long since been resolved. But not for the Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s office, which is now investigating the release of toxic substances and is now seriously attributing the case to organized crime. Raids in the fan scene followed, and the confiscated cell phones now documented that the Ultras also had contact with the fan project employees, which meant that they were targeted by the judiciary. Not even the public prosecutor’s office denies that, according to the “National Concept for Security and Sport,” having contact with the target group is part of the fan social worker’s job description. But even though a fine had already been imposed (and paid) against them, they did not testify. The basis of their work is a relationship of trust with the scene, which makes it possible to influence them. And in fact, that is exactly the basis of relationship work in social work. Street workers in drug work could also quit their jobs if they served as a parallel source for the police and justice system.
»We studied, work in public contracts and are criminalized here. If the police and lawyers rightly expect us to understand their role, the same must apply the other way round,” says a fan project employee from northern Germany who looked very closely at Karlsruhe on Monday. The Federal Working Group of Fan Projects is calling for a change in the law, as is the Alliance for the Right to Refuse to Testify in Social Work. If it becomes common practice for social educators to have one foot in prison if they do their work in a football context, the associations argue, this would amount to a de facto professional ban. For 50 years, experts have been calling for the right to refuse to testify to be extended to social work. Specialist politicians from the traffic light coalition recently publicly supported the request, but also indicated that it could probably take a few more years until the relevant laws are introduced. However, it is quite possible that the Karlsruhe investigations will now increase the pressure on politicians. Recently there were expressions of solidarity for the Karlsruhe fan projectors in many fan curves. Politicians from the Greens, the Left and the SPD have signaled that they see an urgent need for action.
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