Peter Both, the chief of police in Gelsenkirchen, said the challenge would be to intercept the group before they were able to clash with England supporters in the west German city.
England play Serbia on Sunday evening at 9pm local time (8pm BST) in the Veltins Arena, which is home to the 2. Bundesliga club Schalke. An estimated 40,000 English fans are expected to travel to the game along with 5,000 to 8,000 Serbian supporters for what has been designated a "high-risk" tie by Uefa after consultation with the police in Germany, Serbia and the UK.
Both said the German police did not have "concrete intelligence, concrete information" but believed "up to 400 or 500 violence-seeking Serbian hooligans will travel to Germany, but we don't know it exactly and so that's our problem at the moment". He said: "I guess the biggest challenge for us will be to identify violent, disruptive groups at an early stage, to separate them from peaceful and law-abiding fans, that will be our biggest challenge."
This story is from the June 11, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the June 11, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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