Germany – Hungary: Police prevented a block storm of violent hools and ultras

Even before the game, they attracted negative attention several times in downtown Munich. Later in the stadium, they provoked with homophobic chants and rabble in the direction of the field: Hungarian hooligans and ultras again caused ugly pictures at the European Football Championship. According to the police, the situation in the Allianz Arena threatened to escalate for a short time on Wednesday evening. According to this, it was only thanks to the use of stewards and police that the supporters, mostly dressed in black, were prevented from storming a neighboring block with Germany fans before kick-off.

The police themselves had expected around “200 supporters of problematic fan groups” in the run-up to the last group F match between the DFB-Elf and Hungary, according to a press release. Even if some people had their tickets withdrawn in advance because they were carrying pyrotechnics, the majority still made it into the stadium. Including numerous problem fans of the so-called “Carpathian Brigade”, which experts consider to be a paramilitary group and whose members are considered to be ultra-right and violent. “They are the most violent and influential group on the curve,” Bálint Josá, founder of an organization against discrimination and racism in Hungarian football, told Vice magazine in 2016.

According to Josá, the supporters who can be located in the neo-Nazi scene want the old territories and borders of Greater Hungary from the 1920s back. The name also reveals this attitude. During the Second World War, a paramilitary unit under the same name fought as a collaborator with Nazi Germany in several countries.

Arrests and the Nazi salute in downtown Munich

According to the Munich “Abendzeitung”, the supporters are said to have attracted attention even before the game by homophobic and racist chants in the city center; In the stadium, the union of hooligans and ultras from different clubs from Hungary continued. Even before the kick-off, “Germany, Germany, homosexual” was heard through the crowd. The supporters consistently ignored applicable distance rules and the mask requirement. According to the police, there were isolated firing of pyrotechnic objects.

During the aforementioned attempt to storm a neighboring fan block, a trailer threw a bottle at the officers. Fortunately, nobody was injured, the thrower himself was arrested a little later and now has to answer for attempted dangerous bodily harm, the police said.

Because the mood became more and more aggressive during the game, the police increased the number of forces in the guest block at the beginning of the second half. For fear of a storm after the final whistle, police officers were also posted in front of the block. Probably because of this police presence, it remained quiet for Hungary in the further course of the evening and night, despite the EM-exit.

France stars racially insulted

Supporters of the “Carpathian Brigade” had already caused a negative sensation with targeted provocations against superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in the first round match between Hungary and Portugal in Budapest. And also in the second group game against world champions France they caused a scandal. They are said to have repeatedly insulted the French national players Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema with racist abuse and made monkey sounds, as a reporter from the German Press Agency reported a few days ago.

The Uefa then announced last Sunday that it had initiated investigations into “possible discriminatory incidents”. It was initially unclear whether the latest incidents in Munich would also be investigated.