Fan association criticizes “absolutely disproportionate action” by the Bremen police

The FC Bayern Munich fan association Club No. 12 has harshly criticized the actions of the Bremen police during the Bundesliga game on Saturday evening. After FC Bayern’s 2-1 win over Werder Bremen, Munich buses were held until 3 a.m.

“It was an absolutely disproportionate action,” said Alexander Salzweger, spokesman for Club No. 12 SPOX and GOALS. “Unfortunately, fans of active fan scenes know such missions, but that was absolutely excessive even by their standards.”

The Green-White Aid, which supports Werder fans with problems with the police and the judiciary, assessed the measures in a tweet as “clearly illegal”. On the website of the Bremen police and their Twitter channel, there was still no comment on the incidents on Sunday morning.

While the fans were being held, “according to statements from fans on site, hardly anything or nothing at all happened,” says Salzweger: “After asking the police, they said that it was necessary to prevent fans from leaving. The last buses then left around 3 o’clock gone.” The searches are said to have yielded no results.

“On the one hand, the police always refer to the high level of stress and overtime, on the other hand, fans are detained for hours, don’t let them go to the toilet alone and treat them like second-class citizens,” complains Salzweger.

FC Bayern in Bremen: Block clearance due to pyrotechnics

There was trouble in Bremen during the game. After the east curve of Bremen had enveloped the stadium in green and white smoke as the teams entered, Munich fans in the away block in the upper tier opposite followed with a large use of pyrotechnics at the beginning of the second half.

Unusual: In the run-up to the action, the stewards had the mixed sector below cleared in the meantime. Like the Werder portal dyke room citing club information, there were signs of pyrotechnics being used in the away block during the half-time break. From the 50th minute, the fans returned to their seats.

In the course of another use of pyrotechnics by the Munich fans in the upper tier, the procedure was repeated shortly before the end. “If the burning of pyrotechnics in the guest blocks is not stopped, there is a risk of the game being abandoned,” said the stadium announcer via announcement. It didn’t get that far, but FC Bayern is now threatened with a fine. The club in question has to pay 1,000 euros for each burned torch.

Over the course of this season, FC Bayern fans repeatedly caused a stir with big pyrotechnic shows, including away games against Inter Milan in the Champions League and against VfB Stuttgart. In general, a strong increase in the use of pyrotechnics in the German bends can currently be observed (the background to this can be found in the interview with fan researcher Jonas Gabler).