After the brutal attack on supporters of the football Bundesliga club FC Schalke 04, the police have launched a raid in several NRW cities. One of the objects searched was the clubhouse of the Ultras Gelsenkirchen, said a police spokesman in Gelsenkirchen on Thursday on request. According to police, the operation was preceded by intensive investigative work, which continues.
Bundesliga derby at the weekend
25 objects, mainly in Essen and Dortmund, but also in Schwelm, Bergheim, Gladbeck, Beelen, Bottrop and Gelsenkirchen would be searched by numerous forces. The use is in connection with "violent actions in the context of sporting events in Gelsenkirchen," said a spokesman for the NRW Ministry of the interior on request. The "Bild" newspaper had previously reported.
It is about the attack of 19 February, when more than 100 Dortmund and Essen football fans in Gelsenkirchen are said to have attacked Schalke fans at dawn, who just wanted to leave with coaches to the away game against 1 FC Union Berlin. Four people were seriously injured.
The police are investigating the case for breach of the peace and dangerous bodily injury and are concerned about the Revierderby between Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund next Saturday (18.30 pm in the F.A.Z. live ticker for the Bundesliga and Sky). It could not be ruled out that the attack on the Schalke Ultras "leads to a reaction," the police had announced. The derby between Schalke and Dortmund is considered a high-risk game anyway. The security authorities had also criticized the kick-off time in this context. They also imposed a ban on alcohol in the arena and in the arena environment.