Tuesday, June 19, 2007

660 police injured at German soccer matches since 1994

BERLIN (AP) -- During the past 12 years, 660 police officers were injured in clashes with fans at Bundesliga first- and second-division soccer games.
The German parliament issued a report Tuesday that also said 1,324 fans and 1,616 bystanders have been injured since 1994

Several first- and second-division games were stopped and clubs fined last season after some players were racially taunted. One target was Schalke midfielder Gerald Asamoah, Germany's first African-born player.
Anti-Semitic chants at lower-league matches also rose, while there were several battles between police and hundreds of stone-throwing fans that led to the hospitalization of dozens of officers.
German police have listed 9,399 people as violent sports fans. The list is used to enforce nationwide stadium bans and to confiscate their passports before the national team plays road games.

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