GERMANY: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Players of Lokomotive Leipzig apologise to local police after riots broke out during a game against Erzgebirge Aue II which left 36 officers injured

Record ID: 644900

  • Title: GERMANY: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Players of Lokomotive Leipzig apologise to local police after riots broke out during a game against Erzgebirge Aue II which left 36 officers injured
  • Date: 17th February 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (German) HOLGER KRAUSS, LOKOMOTIV LEIPZIG TEAM CAPTAIN SAYING: "These are officers who protect us and the state. It's unacceptable that they would have to fear for their lives. That's why the team got together on Monday during the training. We were still shocked when we sat together in the locker room. We decided we needed to do something although we are not the culprits."
  • Embargoed: 4th March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVABMXPNW866F3JF4AWSCGC46MXH
  • Story Text: Players of Germany's regional division Lokomotive Leipzig football club apologised to local police after riots broke out during a game against Erzgebirge Aue II which left 36 officers injured.
    Around 60 German regional matches in the eastern state of Saxony will be postponed this weekend after hundreds of Leipzig fans assaulted about 300 police last week.
    The incident came after Italy suspended all soccer matches for one week after the death of policeman Filippo Raciti during rioting outside a Serie A match between Catania and Palermo.
    On Friday (February 16) Lokomotiv Leipzig players handed out flowers at the local police headquarters in a goodwill gesture to some of the officers who were on duty when the riot erupted on Saturday (February 10).
    Hooligans from Lokomotive Leipzig hurled cobblestones and concrete blocks, injuring 36 officers and six members of the public after a cup match against Erzgebirge Aue II, police said in a statement.
    One officer was forced to fire a warning shot to warn away a group of assailants after he became separated from his colleagues and another was injured in the leg with a shot from a blank firing gun, the statement added.
    Holger Krauss, Lok Leipzig's team captain, told reporters during the ceremony: "these are officers who protect us and the state. It's unacceptable that they would have to fear for their lives.
    "That's why the team got together on Monday during the training. We were still shocked when we sat together in the locker room. We decided we needed to do something although we are not the culprits," Krauss said.
    Frank Roeber was working as a police dog handler when the rioting broke out.
    "What happened there within those 5 or 10 minutes is something I have never ever experienced before. I'm surprised there weren't any dead," Roeber said.
    Five people were taken into custody and officers were examining video footage to try to identify more of the perpetrators in what was the latest outbreak of violence involving lower league clubs in Germany.
    According to Leipzig deputy chief of police Heinz Theus, "last night at 9:30 p.m. (2030 GMT) the first suspect already came forward. He recognised himself in one of the photographs."
    "He is currently being interrogated," Theus told reporters.
    The cost of the damage was estimated at 12,000 euros ($15,590), not including 21 police vehicles attacked.
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