Germany is set to undertake an unprecedented security operation for the upcoming Euro 2024 football tournament, which kicks off this Friday.
With the anticipation of hundreds of thousands of fans, the country is mobilising its largest police deployment since the federal police was established in 1951.
Around 22,000 officers will be on duty daily, with no vacations allowed until the tournament ends in mid-July. The local police will also receive support from international police forces.
Karsten Taeschner, a spokesperson for the Thuringia police, explained that they are putting so many measures in place because politics and sports can get mixed up:
"Sport can never be viewed in isolation from political world events. We must also be prepared for war-like or other political conflicts because this can quickly spill over into sport."
He told football fans they are all very welcome, but "as the state and federal police are preparing for the 1%."
Recent years have seen a resurgence of football violence across Europe, with particularly concerning incidents in Greece, Turkey, and France.
For Euro 2024, Germany is preparing for the influx of fans, with games scheduled to take place in ten cities.
Four of these cities are in the densely populated Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, known for its excellent rail connections to neighbouring countries.
Training and International Collaboration
In preparation for potential clashes, a significant training exercise took place in the village of Stützerbach. Hundreds of police officers practised responding to a simulated scenario involving violent football fans.
The exercise involved around 200 trainee officers acting as hooligans and local state police calling in federal police reinforcements as the situation escalated.
The drill aimed to prepare officers for the type of disturbances they might face during the tournament.
High-Risk Matches and Alcohol Restriction
The shadow of past violence at football tournaments looms large, with memories of Euro 2016 in France, where Russian hooligans attacked English fans in Marseille.
This has led UEFA to classify certain matches at Euro 2024 as high-risk, notably England's game against Serbia on June 16 in Gelsenkirchen.
To limit potential violence, fans will only be allowed to drink low-alcohol beer outside the stadium, and alcohol consumption will be prohibited in the stands.
Other high-risk matches involve teams from Poland, Croatia, Romania, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.
