Police prepare for violence as Union Berlin hosts Feyenoord

Thu, Nov 4, 2021
Soccer News (AP)

BERLIN (AP) - Berlin police are on alert for fan violence when Union Berlin and Dutch team Feyenoord meet for their second game in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.

There were disturbances and an attack on the Union team delegation for the teams' previous game.

Visiting supporters have been gathering in the German capital since Wednesday. Police made 71 arrests altogether late Wednesday and early Thursday morning for offenses including rioting and other disturbances after fans had been drinking heavily in various parts of the city.

Two Feyenoord fans were apprehended after painting their team's name on the East Side Gallery, an open-air collection of artworks on the longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall. It has since been painted over in gray by Union supporters.

Police stopped rival fans from coming together for pre-planned fights in Treptower Park and Tempelhof, police spokesman Martin Dams told The Associated Press.

"They were prepared for violence," said Dams, who said police were expecting some 5,000 Dutch fans in Berlin for the game.

The Berlin senate gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for up to 30,000 fans to attend the match in Olympiastadion, usually home to Union's city rival Hertha. Union is using the stadium because its own in the eastern borough of Kopenick doesn't have enough seating capacity to meet UEFA demands.

Union planned to deploy 800 game stewards to help with security, the most it has ever had at a match.

Union lost the previous meeting 3-1 in Rotterdam on Oct. 21, but that game was overshadowed by the attack on Union's team delegation, including club president Dirk Zingler, the day before, followed by what it said was "brutal police violence" against its fans on the day of the match.

"Unfortunately, many of us did not feel welcome in Rotterdam," Zingler wrote in the program for Union's match against Bayern Munich last Saturday. "It began on the eve of the game with the attack on the employees and official delegation of our club. ... On the day of the match, there were serious organizational deficiencies, perhaps even deliberately by the host club, that meant many Unioners missed large parts of the game."

Zingler also referred to the reports of police violence that led to some Union supporters being taken to the hospital for treatment.

"We have never experienced anything like this to this extent before, and we will not let it die down," said Zingler, adding that his club is "pressing for an explanation."

While the number of supporters makes Thursday's game Union's biggest ever in European competition, it will have to keep two sections of the stadium closed as a UEFA sanction for the antisemitic behavior of some of its fans toward supporters of Israeli team Maccabi Haifa on Sept. 30.

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