Category: Allgemein

Why some Turkish sports fans terrorize their opponents?

Von Pinar Tremblay

Disruptive and disrespectful actions by Turkish sports fans has been in the news in recent months. On Nov. 21, the Israeli women’s national basketball team became the victim of such behavior in Ankara at the European Championships. During the singing of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, Turkish fans threw water bottles, coins and other objects at the Israeli players on the court. The incident, reported widely in Israel, barely made the news in Turkey.

Some fans at the basketball game applauded the violent acts of others in attendance. On Turkish social media, several tweets praised the disruptive fans while criticizing the arrest of eight people who had waved Palestinian flags. Even before the basketball game, some social media users had called on the government to cancel the match because of Israel’s ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.

What transpired at the basketball game cannot be viewed as a random incident. A sequence of high- and low-profile disruptions has taken place at sports arenas since the summer. Soli Ozel, professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, told Al-Monitor, “This has almost become routine. Teams from several nations have been mistreated. Israeli teams have been terrorized multiple times. Police forces and bureaucrats do not react as strongly as they would against anti-government slogans. We have only heard [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan criticize the protests that took place during the Greek national anthem.”

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Breeding intolerance: Turkish soccer fans disrespect Islamic State victims

https://youtu.be/PNIYwGVOMo8

Von James M. Dorsey

Turkish fans twice in two months disrupted moments of silence for victims of Islamic State attacks in Ankara and Paris in a demonstration of the kind of intolerance bred by religiously-cloaked authoritarianism in countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The fans demonstrative empathy with the Islamic State by shouting Allahu Akbar, God is Great, during moments of silence at the beginning of two soccer matches represented more than simple identification with the jihadist group or evidence of a substantial support base in Turkey. It signalled a shift in attitudes among some segments of Turkish society as a result of 12 years of rule by one of modern Turkey’s most important leaders that increasingly has been infused with notions of ‘us’ and ‘them.’

In Turkey, them is often Kurds, who account for up to 20 percent of the population. Kurds were prominent among the victims in Ankara in October and an earlier IS attack in July in south-eastern Turkish town of Suruc. The Suruc attack sparked renewed hostilities between the Turkish military and the insurgent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The fan’s provocative disrespect for innocent victims of political violence resembled tweets by conservative followers of Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia’s austere interpretation of Islam described by dissident Saudi scholar Madawi Al-Rasheed as “militarized religious nationalism.”

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In rare sign of unity, Ultras of Ahly, Zamalek call for immediate lifting of crowd ban

Ultras White Knights

Von Hatem Maher

Hardcore fan groups of Cairo giants Ahly and Zamalek put aside their animosity to call for the immediate lifting of crowd ban in Egyptian football after attending a youth handball game with minimal security presence on Thursday.

Ultras Ahlawy and Ultras White Knights, who are normally at odds, released a joint statement to reiterate that security problems were never theirs, posting pictures of both sections of white and red-clad fans cheering their respective sides in an U-17 handball affair.

“Today, at Ahly’s Abdullah bin Faisal court, the fans decided to teach an effective lesson [to authorities]. Everyone witnessed the presence of the largest sets of fans with few metres separating them and not a single problem occurred although there wasn’t any security,” both groups said on their Facebook pages.

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Soccer Is Politics

Von James M. Dorsey

Why Egypt’s repressive regime considers soccer fans one of its biggest threats.

Ahmed (not his real name) is an Egyptian soccer fan—and a fugitive. He has been expelled from university, convicted twice in absentia, and sentenced to two long terms in prison. He moves around Cairo in a protective crouch, speaks in a low voice to avoid being overheard, and looks furtively over his shoulder as he organizes flash protests against the government of General-turned-President Abdel Fattah al Sisi.Ahmed is a leader of a militant soccer fan group called Ultras Nahdawy (“ultra” is a term for a hardcore soccer fan first used in Italy). Like other such groups, it is constantly in danger of being banned by the Sisi government under new, sweeping anti-terror legislation that targets dissent as much as political violence. Ahmed sees Nahdawy, founded by soccer fans as a Muslim Brotherhood support group in 2012, together with the main anti-Sisi student organization, Students Against the Coup, as a healthy outlet for disaffected youth at risk of radicalization. “We don’t like violence but we are not weak”, Ahmad insists, sipping coffee in a hip café in a middle-class Cairo neighborhood. “Hope keeps us going. We believe that there still are options.

We created options on Tahrir Square. This regime is more brutal [than the Mubarak regime] but there still are options.”Yusuf Salheen echoes Ahmed’s words. A 22-year-old leader of Students Against the Coup, created in 2013 after security forces killed more than 600 people at a Brotherhood sit-in, he studies Islam at Cairo’s prestigious Al Azhar University. Salheen was luckier than Ahmed and more than 1,500 other students who have been detained by security forces, not to mention 2,000 others merely ejected from their institutions of higher learning: He defended himself successfully in a university hearing called to debar him. “We are absolutely concerned that if we fail things will turn violent. Going violent would give the regime the perfect excuse. We would lose all public empathy. We hope that Egyptians realize that there are still voices out there that are not giving up and are keeping protests peaceful despite all that has happened”, he said.

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Trial of ‘Air Defence Stadium’ survivors resumes

Von Amira El-Fekki

The Cairo Criminal Court resumed on Wednesday the ‘Air Defence Stadium’ trial in a session held at Tora Police Institute.

The case involves 16 defendants who stand accused of rioting in the events, which saw the deaths of 22 football fans of Al-Zamalek SC last February. Several officers testified against the defendants at court.

“We all know the real perpetrators, but unfortunately our hands are tied,” Samer Attia, the uncle of one of the defendants, told Daily News Egypt outside the court on Wednesday.

Mostafa Mahmoud, a 23-year-old student at the Faculty of Commerce at Cairo University, was taken from his house at dawn, the day after the incidents.

“He went to the match with a friend, joining another group of fans on the way, after rumours spread that tickets would be available at the door. His friend had a ticket but Mahmoud could not get in,” Attia stated.

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Valentin ist frei!!

+++Valentin vorerst aus der Untersuchungshaft entlassen!+++

Valentin wurde gestern nach insgesamt 134 Tagen aus der Untersuchungshaft entlassen. Seit Anfang Oktober erhöhten die Behörden den Druck, um ihn psychisch zu brechen. Er wurde für 6 Wochen in Isolationshaft gesteckt und ohne Vorankündigung in die Jugendanstalt Hameln verlegt. Hameln ist weit weg von unseren Strukturen, was unsere Soliarbeit massiv erschwerte und es nur noch selten möglich machte, dass FreundInnen und Familie ihn besuchen konnten.

Innerhalb der Verfahren gegen Valentin gab es schließlich vor kurzem einen Wechsel des Richters. Der neue Richter suchte nach Möglichkeiten, die U-Haft zu beenden. Jedoch sperrte sich der ermittelnde Staatsanwalt dagegen und forderte eine Auseinandersetzung Valentins mit seinen Taten. Auf Drängen des Staatsanwaltes stimmte sowohl der Richter, als auch Valentin selber (in enger Absprache mit seinem Anwalt), dem bei zwei Tatvorwürfen zu.

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Für Volk, Reich und Palästina

Ein Bier auf die Züricher und Chemnitzer Fankameradschaft

Von Ralf Fischer

Die umtriebige rechtsextreme Chemnitzer Ultra-Gruppierung NS-Boys ist Teil eines Netzwerks, zu dem auch Cottbuser, Leipziger und Züricher Kameraden gehören.

Verpixeltes Gesicht, Anglermütze auf dem Kopf und zwei Trommelstöcke in der Hand. So präsentierte sich in den sozialen Netzwerken ein Mitglied der rechtsextremen Chemnitzer Ultragruppierung New Society (NS-Boys) beim Spiel Energie Cottbus gegen Wehen Wiesbaden am 12. Spieltag in der Dritten Liga. Neben der Zaunfahne der Energie-Ultras vom Preußen-Kartell hängt eine neue Zaunfahne der NS-Boys mit dem altbekannten Konterfei eines Hitlerjungen aus den dreißiger Jahren. Das ist eigentlich ein Verstoß gegen die Regeln der Ultras. Es gilt als ungeschriebenes Gesetz, dass ein Fanclub der einmal seine Zaun­fahne verloren hat, sich auflösen muss. Doch die NS-Boys sind weiterhin aktiv.

Zum Verlust der Zaunfahne kam es bei einer Hausdurchsuchung. Im Frühjahr 2014 erließ das sächsische Innenministerium ein Vereinsverbot gegen die Nationalen Sozialisten Chemnitz (NSC). Bei einer Razzia im Vereinsheim der Rechtsextremisten wurden zahlreiche Beweismittel sichergestellt, unter anderem die Fahne der NS-Boys. Doch weder das Vereinsverbot gegen die Nationalen Sozialisten noch das Stadionverbot aus dem Jahre 2006 gegen die NS-Boys sowie einige ihrer Mitglieder zeigten Wirkung. Spielberichte und Fotos ihrer Zaunfahne, die auf ihrem Blog sowie in den sozialen Netzwerken gepostet wurden, zeugen von unzähligen Ausflügen und Stadionbesuchen der vergangenen Jahre. Die in ihren Heimstadien verbotenen Fangruppierungen besuchen häufig Auswärtsspiele der eigenen Mannschaft und Spiele jener Vereine, mit deren Fans sie freundschaftlich verbunden sind. Im Falle der Chemnitzer NS-Boys sind das zumindest zwei Vereine, Energie Cottbus und Grasshopper Zürich.

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A Culture of Violence – The Politics of Serbian Football Hooliganism

AP SERBIA SOCCER S SOC SER

Von Miloš Marković

Over the past two decades, Serbia has become notorious for its football hooliganism. As a country that intends to instill democratic values in its people and to progress on the path to the European Union, Serbia has struggled to reform and regulate many aspects of its social life—unfortunately football stands low on its long list of priorities.

The Serbian fans have taken advantage of its lenient football authorities by using football matches as platform from which to express their opinions and their general sense of discontent. At the same time they often abuse their rights at the stadiums, well aware that they are unlikely to be punished for crossing the line.

In conjunction with underground criminal structures, as reported by the United States Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s Overall Crime and Safety Report, the terraces have long been the stage used to promote xenophobia and extreme nationalism. During matches, this often leads to physical confrontations between rival sets of hooligans—assaults have resulted in serious injuries and two deaths over the past seven years.

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Der letzte deutsche Fußballtote

Von Sören Kohlhuber

Vor 25 Jahren ist der Fußballfan Mike Polley durch eine Kugel der Volkspolizei gestorben. Er wurde nur 18 Jahre alt. Sämtliche Ermittlungen wurden damals eingestellt.

Das Jahr 1990 in Ostberlin gilt im Rückblick als Jahr der Anarchie. Die DDR löste sich langsam auf, ihre Organe auch, und weil Westbeamte noch nicht zum Eingreifen befugt waren, gab es einen riesigen Freiraum, vor allem für Jugendliche. In den Bezirken Mitte, Friedrichshain und Prenzlauer Berg besetzten Autonome mehr als 100 Häuser. Ganze Straßenzüge wie die Rigaerstraße, die Dunkerstraße oder Mainzerstraße waren in ihren Händen. Die rechtsfreien Räume schufen aber nicht nur, sie zerstörten auch.

Hooligans der ostdeutschen Fußballvereine zogen teils marodierend durch die Straßen. Der Neonaziaussteiger Ingo Hasselbach berichtet in seinem Buch Die Abrechnung von kompletten Raubzügen, bei denen BFC-Hooligans zum Beispiel in Leipzig Alkohol, Zigaretten, CD-Player und ganze Kühlschranke an sich nahmen. Das passierte häufig. Die Volkspolizei war mit den Hooligans überfordert. In Rostock, in Erfurt, an vielen Orten der DDR waren gewalttätige Hooligans ein Problem. In Leipzig allerdings fanden die Ausschreitungen ihren Höhepunkt.

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