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There had been riots in the game between Nice and Cologne
Photo: IMAGO/Norbert Scanella / IMAGO/PanoramiC
The board of directors of Bundesliga soccer club 1. FC Köln condemned the violent excesses in Nice last Thursday in a letter to the members in the Conference League group game.
»What we saw in the stands were not self-defence measures, but actions – sometimes with unleashed violence.
There is no excuse for that at all,” wrote President Werner Wolf and his Vice-Presidents Eckhard Sauren and Carsten Wettich, according to “Express”.
The game was only kicked off 55 minutes after the original kick-off time because of riots between the fans.
According to the police, 18 people were injured.
A fan fell five meters from the middle tier and suffered serious injuries.
The club suffered "serious damage".
»Violent criminals in the colors of our club drew the focus in Nice and destroyed a day full of hope, anticipation and cohesion with their actions.
They hurt people with their attacks, intimidated people and caused fear in many who wanted to spend the day with friends and family.
A penalty from the Disciplinary Body of the European Football Union due to the events in Nice is still pending.
Only on Monday was a fine totaling 56,000 euros imposed on Cologne due to fan misconduct in the second leg of the Conference League play-off at Hungarian FC Fehervar.
For the events in Nice, FC must expect more drastic penalties from Uefa.
Ultras show solidarity with banned Parisian group
On Sunday, the FC Ultras of the "Wilde Horde" presented a banner against Union Berlin ("As long as the Horde exists, the Supras are part of it") and showed solidarity with the Paris group "Supras Auteuil", which has been banned since 2010.
These are said to have been instrumental in the Nice riots.
The two fan groups have been friends for many years.
The FC board expressed its incomprehension about it.
In addition, criminal consequences and stadium bans for violent offenders were announced.
Debate on dealing with violent offenders
The announced consequences would, in addition to »the identification and punishment of the perpetrators, make a fundamental contribution to ensuring that something like this can no longer happen in our stands.
Consequences that ensure that nobody has to be afraid to go to the stadium - not in Cologne and not when traveling away".
However, the club bosses also addressed the problems of dealing with violent supporters: »It is much more important to have a debate about how we deal with the violent criminals who we cannot identify.
They will continue to stand below us in the curve and continue to trample on the values of FC, which include not only fairness but also the renunciation of violence.
They don't allow dialogue.
They cannot be identified, they protect themselves in the crowd.
They find this protection through a mixture of tolerance, indifference, but also fear from the FC fans around them."
The board appealed to the FC fan community to build up public pressure and hopes that all club members and the fan scene will get involved.
But political and police support is also needed.
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