Sport against Schalke
Game in Rostock interrupted for 30 minutes after fan riots
As of: 3:02 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
From both sides: stewards try to push Schalke and Rostock back into the blocks
Source: dpa/Axel Heimken
The second division game between Hansa Rostock and Schalke 04 had to be interrupted for half an hour. The reason was fan riots in the stands. The incidents have a history dating back to 2021.
Football was no longer an option. “Danger. Here’s a note to all viewers. “The game has been interrupted due to a security incident,” the Rostock stadium announcer told the audience. A point in time when the second division game between FC Hansa and Schalke 04 had already been interrupted for more than five minutes.
Referee Nicolas Winter stopped the teams in the 38th minute and sent the players to the dressing rooms after there was heavy smoke in and around the Schalke fans’ away block. Fireworks flew over the stands and stewards were deployed.
Police officers secure the Schalke block
The fact that the interruption lasted more than 20 minutes was apparently due to the fact that part of the safety glass fence around the Schalke fan area had been destroyed. According to the Rostock police, Schalke broke through the barrier to get to the home supporters’ area.
Black day for football: Schalke fans were enveloped in black smoke
Source: dpa/Axel Heimken
On the other side, Hansa rioters had apparently also tried to storm the visitors’ block and had at least broken into an area of the stands that had been left empty for security reasons. However, there was no direct encounter between the two fan groups, said a police spokeswoman. It took several minutes for the officers to calm the situation.
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After more than 20 minutes, the players and the referee came out again, police officers secured the Schalke block, the continuation of the game was announced over the stadium microphone: “We appeal once again to common sense.” It took a while until referee Winter whistled to start the game again Another ten minutes, then the last seven minutes of the first half could be made up.
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The conflicts between the fan camps have a history that goes back at least two years. At that time, the game in September 2021 in Rostock faded into the background hours before kick-off. A big brawl between supporters of both teams overshadowed the traditional duel. The fan scenes met on the Baltic Sea beach – fists flew in both directions and several fans were injured in the brawl. A video went viral online of fans hitting each other on the Westmole lighthouse beach on the Baltic Sea in Rostock-Warnemünde.
To ensure that such scenes do not repeat themselves at Schalke’s next guest appearance, the police asked both the clubs and the fans for help in advance – and appealed to common sense. There was strict fan separation in Rostock on Sunday. And this is exactly what an attempt was apparently made to abolish. Ultimately, once again at the expense of sport.
