Germany on high alert at the start of the European Championship: numerous safety measures and controls

Loose things! Tonight, Germany kicks off the European Championship in Munich, with the opening match against Scotland. The Netherlands will take action for the first time on Sunday. There has been little sign of major European Championship fever in Germany until today, but faith in a new fairytale summer will undoubtedly swell as soon as the first whistle blows.

The German authorities are primarily concerned with security surrounding the tournament. It is priority number one, according to Minister Faeser of the Interior. The ten host cities welcome 2.7 million supporters to their stadiums. In addition, around 12 million visitors are expected in the fan zones. All must take strict safety measures into account.

There is mainly fear of a terrorist attack. Last week, a possible attack during the European Championships was thwarted, with the arrest of a man affiliated with the Afghan branch of the IS terrorist group, IS-K. He had wanted to work as a guard during the European Championships. Several terror suspects have been arrested in recent months. The concerns are real: two Swedes were killed in Brussels last year in an attack around a European Championship qualifier.

After the attack on a concert hall in Moscow by IS-K, alertness has been increased again. The same group is said to have previously had plans for an attack during the Christmas holidays in Cologne in 2023. A call was placed via an IS-K propaganda channel to “score the last goal in Berlin, Dortmund or Munich”, accompanied by an armed man. According to terror experts, it is unlikely that the group would announce an attack in advance, but the video did instill fear.

Drone defense and flag ban

Ministers, police and organizations repeatedly emphasize that there is no ‘specific threat’, but that everything is being anticipated. “There is always a greater risk of terrorism at major tournaments,” said Justice Minister Buschmann. The soothing words do not alter the fact that one in five Germans indicates that they do not dare to go to a public viewing for fear of attacks.

Germany is certainly well prepared. Border controls have been increased or, as in the case with the Netherlands, reintroduced since last week. Drone defenses have been purchased for the host cities and the fire brigade has purchased special decontamination vehicles for the scenario of an attack with a chemical or biological weapon.

Special attention is paid to the fan zones, because they are more vulnerable than well-secured stadiums. Take the ‘Fan Meile’ in Berlin; There have been sturdy fences and road blocks around it for weeks, including mobile poles that should be able to stop trucks. Simply walking into the area is not possible: there are bag checks and a ban on Israeli and Palestinian flags.

After the attack in Mannheim, in which a man stabbed people at an anti-Islam protest, killing a police officer, local knife bans were also imposed in host cities.

Hungarian fans

All kinds of emergency situations have been practiced in the host cities in recent weeks. These situations ranged from a terrorist driving into a crowd to a bomb attack on a fan zone, as was simulated in Berlin last week. Nearly a hundred fake injured people were taken simultaneously to one hospital, which managed to receive them all.

Another security risk is hooligans. They, like the terrorist threat, are analyzed by a specially established international police cooperation centre. From this command center, agents from all over Germany work with colleagues from the Netherlands, among others. The idea is that in this way no known hooligan can move through the country unnoticed.

According to the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung, special attention is paid to the high-risk matches England-Serbia and Germany-Hungary. In the latter case it concerns the feared ‘Carpathian Brigade’, which has announced a ‘spectacle’ for this match on social media.

There are concerns from supporters’ associations about the number of safety measures. They fear that the tensions will lead to unnecessary police violence and excessive restrictions on freedoms, but the police emphasize that they will act in a ‘de-escalating’ manner.

Finally, there are concerns about cyber attacks and sabotage from Russia. That country is excluded from this tournament. Extra attention is therefore paid to the protection of the Ukrainian team, Minister Faeser said earlier.

Business

The challenges for this European Championship are incomparable to those of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, responsible authorities repeat again and again. At the same time it is emphasized that it should not spoil the atmosphere. At the opening of the fan zone in Berlin on Wednesday evening, fans did not seem to be deterred: due to the massive influx, the entrances even had to be closed. The football fever seems to be coming.