79 injured in regional league game in Jena

After the regional league game between FC Carl Zeiss Jena and BSG Chemie Leipzig there were violent riots with a total of 79 people injured. As the police announced on Saturday evening, 10 emergency services, 5 stewards and 64 spectators from Jena and Leipzig were injured. In front of 7,224 spectators, including 1,084 chemistry fans, Jena won the game 5-0. The encounter was considered a risky game because the ultra groups have been enemies for years. Jena said she wanted to get a “comprehensive picture of what was happening”.

Even before the game, around 350 home fans marched through the city unannounced. The march, in which pyrotechnics were set off several times, was stopped by the police, according to their own statements, “using physical violence as well as the baton and irritant gas.” Firecrackers were then set off again and again during the regional league encounter. After the final whistle, Leipzig fans threw fireworks towards the Jena supporters. “This caused both active fan camps to force open two buffer gates behind the south stand. As a result, there was a brief uncontrolled clash between the two fan camps and the uninhibited use of force,” said the Jena State Police Inspectorate. “The situation could only be stopped by the intervening police forces with the use of irritant gas and the baton,” it continued. According to a report in the “Ostthüringer Zeitung”, which cited those present, even uninvolved bystanders were injured by pepper spray. There was massive damage to property, and a total of 40 criminal and administrative offenses were reported. FC Carl Zeiss Jena announced that “a large group of around 1,200 guest fans from Leipzig that evening violently broke through the buffer area between the guest block and block N” and broke away “gave access to the home area of ​​the active Jena fan scene”. The people of Leipzig spoke on Sunday of “great damage” as a club.Chemie particularly condemned the use of pyrotechnics. “Such actions, which are capable of causing serious injuries to other people, are despicable,” said the BSG: “However, a minority here has clearly exceeded such a limit.”