Klagenfurt 'skirmishes and fist-fights' result in 157 arrests

Wolfgang Rauchegger, police commander for the local province of Carinthia, confirmed there were some "skirmishes" and "fist fights" in separate locations around the city and that 157 people had been arrested.

The majority of those detained were rounded up after disturbances in the city centre, with 140 of those arrested coming from a group of German fans who were chanting Nazi slogans, and who included known hooligans. Overall, 143 German people were detained, one Slovenian, two Austrians and ten Poles, while two police offers were injured – one because of a traffic accident and another from a missile that was thrown. "Unfortunately, as we expected there were some supporters who came here as trouble makers," Rauchegger told a press conference yesterday.

Around 80,000 football fans were in Klagenfurt for the match, won 2-0 by Germany. "The day was very peaceful, in the evening, however, around 140 German supporters were planning to commit crimes, but our liaison officers knew about that, informed us and we surrounded them and arrested them," Rauchegger added. "There were 157 arrests, 140 were from this group of German violent supporters, we had six offences for obstructing police and for civil disorder, while there were also some breaches of public peace and cases of administrative offences. Two of the people were sent to prison and four people are still being interrogated."

Regarding the main group of German fans who were arrested, Rauchegger said: "First it was smaller groups that had gathered, then they became bigger, chanted Nazi slogans and our liaison offers told us that the situation could be escalating. This group was also formed of well-known trouble-makers and the liaison offers expected that there was a high risk of violent actions by this group."

Rauchegger confirmed that among the arrests were four people who were recorded in their database of violent supporters. "How they got into Austria I don't know, I can't answer that," he said.