On Saturday, May 4, 155 police officers sustained injuries after clashing with groups of fans from both Dynamo Berlin and Energie Cottbus.
The two sides were competing in the fourth division of German football, with the incident occurring after the match outside Dynamo's ground.
155 police officers injured in clash with fans
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A heated occasion
With the two clubs located just 40 miles apart, and promotion at stake for both heading into the game, the match was always going to be a fierce affair.
Add to that the fact that both fanbases have previous when it comes to violence, and this sort of scenario becomes almost inevitable to some degree.
The incident
#Berlin : selon la police berlinoise, un dernier bilan fait état d'un total de 155 policiers blessés lors des heurts survenus lors du match #BFC Dynamo – Energie #Cottbus de samedi. La majorité des blessures ont été causées par des lacrymos, utilisés par la police elle-même. pic.twitter.com/PHkDdAjeIf
— 1899 Mode Ultrà (@ultras1899_) May 7, 2024
Officers were forced to step in when groups of the two respective fanbases clashed outside Dynamo's stadium after the match. It has been reported that the initial cause was home supporters firing pyrotechnics at the visiting fans.
It was shortly after this that the police entered the fray, and unfortunately, many of them were injured in the process. In total, it is believed that 155 police officers sustained substantial injuries during the skirmish, with 116 of them coming from the use of their own tear gas, while a further 28 were caused by 39 were caused by assaults from fans.
What have officials said?
Speaking after the incident, Berlin's Senator of sport said: “I absolutely condemn it. The club has to tell us now what it wants to do with its fan base.
“This is taxpayers' money that we had to spend, with 1,000 police officers for security.”
While the country's interior minister, Nancy Faeser, took to X, formerly Twitter, to claim that “such violence destroys sports.”
A bad look as Euro 2024 nears
With Euro 2024 just around the corner and creeping ever closer, a high-profile incident such as this is a disaster for Germany from a public relations point of view.
Violence among fans in Europe has become a troubling trend in recent months, with Brits suffering serious injuries abroad on more than one occasion and this could make travelling to Germany less appealing for them as a result. Although let's face it, UK fans don't exactly have a brilliant reputation across Europe either.
However, even from a far bigger perspective than just that of travelling Brits, crowd trouble just before a major tournament is potentially very damaging to the overall experience of the games. If travelling supporters from other countries are more concerned about their safety than they are about the spectacle of the Euros, it is highly unlikely that they are going to enjoy themselves.