Turkish fans gathered to celebrate in Berlin on Sunday evening following the Turkish football club Galatasaray-Istanbul’s early title victory, but the celebrations quickly turned to rioting.
Around 2,500 supporters of the Turkish club gathered at Kurfürstendamm, a central shopping district in Berlin, to celebrate the club’s 25th championship title. However, the mood quickly soured.
Fans began pelting police officers with bottles, fireworks, and stones, resulting in 33 officers being injured.
Video of the riots were widely shared on social media, with the busy shopping area descending into chaos.
Authorities are investigating a series of crimes, including breach of peace, violations of the Explosives Act, assaults, and dangerous bodily harm.
A police chief told Bild newspaper that it was unacceptable “that events in Turkey such as sporting victories or political elections are celebrated on our streets, traffic collapses and our colleagues are attacked and injured.”
Not only does Germany have to deal with its own hooligans, who have grown relatively mild in recent years, but now has to deal with the aftermath of foreign matches, which spark riots on the streets of Germany.
In other European countries, such the Netherlands and Belgium, football matches involving teams like Morocco and Algeria have sparked widespread riots that caused millions of euros in property damage and led to national headlines.
The Berlin police union also complained about the carnage on Sunday night, with Stephen Weh, the Berlin GdP regional leader, stating: “It was unacceptable that an ordinary Sunday evening had turned into such an excess of violence. He called on politicians to take action: the CDU and SPD must now swiftly implement legislative measures to restrict freedom of assembly on public transport routes”
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