The security authorities are putting a lot of effort into the European Football Championship. Since the World Cup “summer fairy tale” of 2006, new challenges have arisen, says a trade unionist.
Millions of guests from all over the world, full stadiums, crowds at public viewing: Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) expects up to 12 million visitors and 2.7 million fans in the stadiums for the European Football Championship in June. The Islamist terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow raises the question: What is the security status of such a huge event?
Junction NRW
“Safety is our top priority,” assured European Championship tournament director Philipp Lahm in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. We are in contact with the authorities. North Rhine-Westphalia with its four venues Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Düsseldorf and Cologne will become a hub with an international police center in Neuss.
The so-called International Police Coordination Center (IPCC) is intended to evaluate security-relevant information about the tournament and to exchange information between the federal and state governments and with forces from other European countries. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, this involves general, organized or politically motivated crime, hooliganism or accompanying demonstrations in the area around the venues.
Police officers in North Rhine-Westphalia are banned from vacation during the European Championship, said State Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) on Deutschlandfunk. This applies both in Berlin and to the federal police – as the chairman of the police union (GdP) for the federal police department, Andreas Roßkopf, told the “Rheinische Post”.
Faeser announces border controls
As is usual with such major events, the German borders will also be more strictly controlled for the European Football Championship in June with its ten venues. “We will carry out temporary border controls at all German borders during the tournament in order to be able to prevent possible violent criminals from entering the country,” said Faeser to the “Rheinische Post”. However, this will not mean lowered barriers, but rather random checks. Germany had already introduced temporary border controls for the 2006 Football World Cup, among other things.
“At almost all major major events with international participation (G20, G7, NATO summit, World Cup, European Championships), the security forces resort to this option,” said the chairman of the federal police union within the German Police Union (DPolG), Heiko Teggatz, to the German press agency (dpa) in Berlin. The deputy federal chairman of the police union (GdP), Michael Mertens, said: “Border controls are an important instrument to prevent extremist violent criminals and violent sports offenders from traveling into the country and to keep them away from the tournament.”
From fake news to drones: new challenges
Football has not become more peaceful since the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and there is also the threat from extremist violent criminals and terrorists, Mertens told the dpa. Communication via messenger services or social media is also likely to keep the police busy. “Larger numbers of fans can meet at certain locations at lightning speed. Keeping up with this as a police force will not be easy and may only be possible with a large effort,” says Mertens.
“In addition, it will be difficult to retain the authority to interpret security-relevant incidents.” It can be assumed that there will be agitation against the police on social media. “The police must also keep an eye on drone and cyber attacks that cannot be ruled out, as well as controlled fake news.”
Federal Ministry of the Interior: Security situation unchanged
The Moscow attack has no impact on the assessment of the situation in Germany, as a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior emphasized on Monday – 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.
Country representatives also say they know nothing about any specific threats. A spokeswoman for the Berlin Senate Interior Administration told the dpa: “The security authorities currently have no information or information that would suggest that the event is in concrete danger.” Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) and his colleague from Baden-Württemberg, Thomas Strobl (CDU), made similar statements – with Strobl pointing out that an attack like the one in Russia could also lead to imitation acts in this country.
How the police are organized
Preparations for the European Championships have been going on for months, said Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. Leipzig is one of the venues. “We didn’t need an attack in Moscow to be even more alarmed or anything like that,” he assured. After the attack on the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris in 2015, the German police, including the Saxon police, changed a lot of tactics and equipment in order to prepare for such operations. “And of course that also works now.” In Bavaria, around 2,000 participants recently trained for an emergency in a cross-border 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.”
Trade unionist Mertens refers to the experience of his colleagues in normal league operations. “In addition, an expanded security concept with upstream controls and personalized tickets applies to the games.” His assessment: “The safest places at the European Championships are probably the stadiums themselves.”
Calls for more powers for the police
Schuster reiterated Union demands for more powers for the security authorities. “Now, when it comes to terrorist attacks, you can see how often we rely on information from abroad. We urgently need to correct that,” he said. The state minister appealed to the federal government’s traffic light coalition to do something about online searches and data retention.
Strobl also emphasized that data retention is urgently needed to prevent the most serious crimes and terrorist attacks. In addition to more money for the police, union representative Teggatz called for more technical options, including online searches.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
