Millions of guests, full stadiums: the European Football Championship in Germany is also a mammoth event for the security authorities. The European Championship should be made safe through border controls, harsh punishments for chaotic people and a massive police presence.
The European Football Championship in June and July in Germany is not only a major event from a sporting perspective. The security authorities, the federal police and, for example, the railways also have hot weeks ahead.
Summer fairy tale with a dark side
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann is certain: “Hooligans and riot tourists will also make their way to Germany.” That is the dark side of every summer fairy tale, said the FDP politician in Bild am Sonntag. He called for harsh and immediate consequences for violent criminals: “When crimes are committed, punishment should follow immediately wherever possible.”
Controls at all German borders
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser sees the authorities as well prepared. “Our federal police will protect the German borders, airports and rail traffic. We are very vigilant and well prepared,” the SPD politician told the newspaper. Faeser had already announced controls at all German borders for the European Championships in the summer. The police union welcomed this. Chairman Andreas Roßkopf said: “We know from experience that violent football fans and hooligans in particular use major events like the European Championships to meet up.” Germany had already introduced temporary border controls for the 2006 Football World Cup, among other things.
14 special railway trains
According to Transport Minister Volker Wissing, the railway is also making preparations for the mega event. The FDP politician held out the prospect of strengthening security measures in rail operations. “Checks are carried out by railway security personnel and the federal police at the train stations. If increased measures are necessary, they will be taken,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “What is not possible is to monitor an infrastructure like that of the railway seamlessly at every point. That’s why appropriate security technology is in use.”
According to the Transport Minister, Deutsche Bahn has already sold around 50,000 tickets to football fans. During the European Championships, 14 special trains would run with 10,000 additional seats every day, said Wissing. Fan tickets for long-distance transport cost 29.90 euros per trip; local transport to and from the stadium is included in the admission ticket.
The men’s European Football Championship will take place in Germany from June 14th to July 14th. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, up to twelve million visitors and 2.7 million fans are expected in the stadiums.
Training for emergencies and massive police presence
Preparations for the European Championships have been going on for months, said Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) last week ARD morning magazine. Leipzig is one of the venues.
In Bavaria, around 2,000 participants recently trained for an emergency in a cross-state anti-terror exercise. The fictional scenario was an attack on the European Championships. In addition to the operational concepts that are ready, we are currently doing a lot of training, dealing with equipment issues and continually questioning the security concept, said Schuster. “And then in the summer, when it starts, it’s of course about massive presence, especially where there are a lot of people, i.e. public viewing.”
A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior emphasized that the latest terrorist attack in Moscow had no impact on the assessment of the situation in Germany – the threat from Islamists was already considered high. “The security authorities are very vigilant because the Islamist threat is not a new one.” Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th, the Islamist scene as a whole has been the focus of the security authorities even more.
Philip Brost, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, March 31, 2024 8:00 a.m
2024-03-31 06:45:55
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