Recognizing fan power, Egypt’s regime boosts calls for security sector reform

Von James M. Dorsey

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s brutal regime in rare gestures towards his opponents has twice this year recognized the potential street power of his country’s militant, street battle-hardened soccer fans. In doing so, the regime has implicitly acknowledged that security forces rather than the fans were responsible for past violence and provided ammunition for calls for wholesale reform of law enforcement.

The Sisi regime’s latest gesture came this week when for the first time in five years allowed thousands of members of the Ultras White Knights (UWK), hard-line supporters of storied Cairo club Al Zamalek FC who played a key role in the 2011 toppling of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and protests against subsequent governments, to attend an African Champions League match against Algeria’s Mouloudia Olympique de Bejaia better known as MO Bejaia.

The decision to allow UWK into the stadium followed warnings by the group and its arch rival, Ultras Ahlawy, the militant support group of Al Ahli SC, that they would defy the interior ministry’s ban, implicitly risking yet another deadly clash with security forces.

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Fußballfans im Fokus der Behörden

Von addn.me

Polizei beobachtet Fans

Die Kritik an der Arbeit sächsischer Behörden reißt nicht ab. Wie auch der aktuelle Fall anschaulich belegt, scheint in Teilen der sächsischen Polizeiführung jegliches Verständnis für Grundrechte abhanden gekommen zu sein. Das zumindest lässt sich aus den Antworten des Sächsischen Innenministers Markus Ulbig (CDU) auf eine Kleine Anfrage von Valentin Lippmann (Die Grünen) schließen. Dieser musst auf Nachfrage einräumen, dass die Polizei eine bis dato vollkommen unbekannte Datei „Gewalttäter Sport“ führt, in der in Sachsen fast 600 Personen erfasst sind. Allein in Dresden betrifft dies 328 Personen aus dem Umfeld der Fußballfanszene der SG Dynamo Dresden, denen die Polizei vorwirft, gewaltbereit zu sein.

Neben Dynamo wurden in der Liste nach Informationen der Freien Presse auch Personen von anderen sächsischen Fußballvereinen aufgeführt. Auf den FSV Zwickau (154) folgen die beiden Leipziger Vereine Lokomotive Leipzig (72) und die BSG Chemie Leipzig (19).

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Wasserwerfer in Brüssel. Hunderte Nazi-Hooligans stürmen Trauerfeier

Bild zu Hoolingans, Brüssel, TrauerfeierVon n-tv

Mehrere Hundert Menschen skandieren fremdenfeindliche Parolen auf dem Brüsseler Börsenplatz. Die Polizei setzt Wasserwerfer ein. Es kommt zu Rangeleien mit alkoholisierten Störern. Derweil fahndet die Polizei weiter nach mehreren mutmaßlichen Terroristen.

Mehrere Hunderte Hooligans haben das Gedenken an die Brüsseler Terroropfer auf dem Börsenplatz im Zentrum der belgischen Hauptstadt gestört. Auf Fernsehbildern waren teilweise vermummte Personen zu sehen. Nach Angaben der Nachrichtenagentur Belga umfasste die Gruppe etwa 450 teils alkoholisierte Menschen. Es kam zu Rangeleien mit Polizisten, die mit Schlagstöcken, Schildern und Helmen ausgerüstet waren. Die Sicherheitskräfte setzten Wasserwerfer ein und nahmen rund 10 Tatverdächtige vorübergehend fest.

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Racist Karpaty Fans Target Okechukwu

Karpaty Lviv Racism

Von Vadim Furmanov

“Why the f*** do Karpaty need a monkey?” 

Those were the chants that greeted Karpaty Lviv’s Nigerian striker Gabriel Okechukwu as he stepped onto the pitch in the 79th minute during his team’s 1-0 loss to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on Sunday at Arena Lviv. Okechukwu signed for Karpaty on March 1 and has been subject to racist abuse—from his own club’s supporters—in every match since. Karpaty’s traveling supporters started the ‘monkey’ chant in Odessa in their away match against Chornomorets as soon as he made his debut, and did the same last week against Dynamo Kyiv when they saw him warming up on the touchline.

The Response by Karpaty Fans Has Been Predictable

The response from the club and the supporters has been depressingly predictable. The leader of the Karpaty ultras group ‘Zavzhdy Virni’ (Always Loyal) Taras Pavliv claimed that the chants were not directed at Okechukwu, but rather at the club’s general director Yuriy Dyachuk-Stavytskyi. According to Pavliv, the supporters are protesting the club’s policies regarding transfers and the youth system. The club’s director is trying to turn a profit from these mysterious transfers, Pavliv argues, while the promises of giving youth players a chance are unfulfilled.

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Morocco bans ‘ultra’ fan groups following riot

Mohammed V stadiumVon Piers Edwards

Local authorities in Morocco have banned the activities of ‘ultra’ fan groups following Saturday’s riot in Casablanca that left three people dead and 54 reported to have been injured.

Rival Raja Casablanca fan groups fought among themselves after their side’s 2-1 victory over Chabab Rif Al Hoceima.

It is understood fans will still be allowed at the Mohammed V stadium.

However, items such as flares and banners are expected to be prohibited under the new ruling.

Three-time African champions Raja and its fans have come under intense pressure since the trouble.

Two fans were reported dead on Saturday before a third succumbed to his injuries earlier this week.

“To ensure the safety of citizens and preserve public order, it has been decided to ban the activities of all the ‘ultras’ who act outside of the law,” said Casablanca’s prefecture in a statement.

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Turkish soccer pitches tell the story of hardening fault lines

Von James M. Dorsey

Turkish soccer pitches tell the story of the country’s multiple sharpening fault lines that are exploding into political violence on the streets of Turkey’s major cities as the government fuels deep-seated political and ethnic tensions.

The warning signs were long visible on the pitch: increased militarism, ethnic tensions between Kurds and Turkish nationalists, and expressions of empathy with the Islamic State (IS), the jihadist group that controls chunks of Syria and Iraq and that alongside Kurds is believed to be responsible for some of the recent bombings in Istanbul, Ankara and south-eastern Turkey.

In the latest development, authorities on Sunday cancelled the derby between Istanbul arch rivals Galatasary SK and Fenerbahce SK and evacuated fans from Istanbul’s Turk Telekom Arena amid fears of yet another attack.

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Tod in der Kurve

Von Andreas Bock

Am Wochenende starben bei Ausschreitungen in Casablanca zwei Fußballfans. Über 50 wurden verletzt. Eine tragische Geschichte – und leider kein Einzelfall.

Das Stade Mohamed V ist ein Koloss. Ein Stadion, das neben all den modernen Multiplexarenen wie ein Sehnsuchtsort für Fußballromantiker wirkt. Aber es ist eben auch eine Falle. Ein Betonklotz, in dem es kaum Notausgänge gibt und wenig bis gar kein Sicherheitspersonal.

1955 wurde es erbaut, seitdem hat die Stadt es angeblich zweimal renoviert. Man fragt sich nur, wo. Wer die Tribünen dieses prämodernen Ungetüms erklimmt, muss vorbei an offenen Leitungen, tropfenden Wasserrohren, herausgerissenen Sitzschalen. Unter der Tribüne dieses Stadions sieht es aus, als hätte man die Eingeweide einer ausgestorbenen Riesenbestie freigelegt.

Die offizielle Kapazität des Stadions beträgt 50.000 Zuschauer, oft sind aber mehr als 80.000 auf den Tribünen. Zuletzt war das Ende Dezember der Fall, als die beiden großen Klubs im Derby de Casablanca aufeinandertrafen: Raja gegen Wydad, Grün gegen Rot, Hoffnung gegen Liebe. Wir waren damals vor Ort (die Reportage lest ihr in 11FREUNDE #171).

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Two dead and 49 injured after violent clashes during Raja Casablanca match

• Violence erupted after kick off as Raja Casablanca faced Chabab Rif Al Hoceima
• Club fined £7,150 and told to play five matches behind closed doors

Morocco’s official news agency says violent clashes among Raja Casablanca fans in the western city of Casablanca have left two people dead and 49 injured.

The state news agency, MAP, said it is unclear why the deadly violence erupted on Saturday evening, following the start of Raja Casablanca’s game against Chabab Rif Al Hoceima.

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Oberhausener Ultras sollen zum Idiotentest

Ein Straßenschild mit einem Auto und dem Schriftzug MPU. (imago / STPP)

Von Thorsten Poppe

15 Ultras haben von der Stadt Oberhausen die Aufforderung erhalten, sich einer Medizinisch-Psychologischen Untersuchung zu unterziehen – im Volksmund auch Idiotentest genannt. Die Begründung: Aufgrund des hohen Aggressionspotenzials der Ultras sei davon auszugehen, dass sie auch im Straßenverkehr emotional impulsiv handeln.

Quelle: DLF, 20. März 2016

PSV Eindhoven vow to find fans who treated Madrid beggars ‘like animals’

Von Ben Quinn

Club considers banning orders after denouncing ‘scandalous’ supporters who humiliated woman in exchange for money

One of the Netherlands’ leading football clubs says that it will consider banning orders against fans who were filmed humiliating beggars in the centre of Madrid by throwing coins at them and goading the women into doing press-ups.

Fans of PSV Eindhoven were caught on camera taunting the women and asking them to get down on their knees in exchange for money.

The footage, which also showed fans engaging in anti-immigrant chants and burning banknotes, sparked a backlash after it was published by the Spanish newspaper, El País.

PSV director Toon Gerbrands described the fans’ behaviour as “scandalous,” adding: “The actions of a few individuals are damaging the reputation of the whole group.”

A Twitter account for the club featured clips of Gerbrands, dubbed in English and Spanish, denouncing the fans’ behaviour and pledging to track them down.

“If we find them they will have some serious problems and we will consider banning orders or worse,” he said. “We will do anything to find the people who did this.”

The footage was shot on Tuesday in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor by Pablo Vande Rusten and Ignacio Camacho, students at the UAM-EL País journalism school, before PSV’s Champions League match against Atlético Madrid.

The Dutch fans also chanted: “Don’t cross the border,” at the women, according to El País.

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