The brawl between 180 football fans from Ahlen and Münster led to the closure of Essen’s main railway station on Saturday evening. Police officers injured.
A violent altercation between rival football fans at Essen central station caused massive disruption to rail traffic in the Ruhr region late on Saturday afternoon.
Around 5.30 p.m., supporters of the two West regional league teams Preußen Münster and Rot Weiss Ahlen clashed and had a brawl which, according to the police, was even partly fought out on the tracks. This caused train cancellations and delays in regional and long-distance traffic. During the incident, the main railway station was closed and many travellers were unable to get on.
The fans were on their way back from their away games. Münster had played the U23 of Fortuna Düsseldorf, Ahlen was a guest at Rot-Weiß Oberhausen on Saturday. According to police reports, the trains from Düsseldorf and Oberhausen had coincidentally stopped in Essen almost at the same time, with the fan groups taking advantage of this to get off.
Cans and bottles were thrown at police officers As reported by the federal police, about 180 fans were involved in the altercation, during which, according to the police incident report, cans and bottles were also thrown at police officers. When federal police officers tried to separate the two camps, four officers were so seriously injured that they were no longer fit for duty.
A 24-year-old Ahlen fan, who attempted to flee after throwing a glass bottle, was particularly notable. Federal police officers caught the man a few metres later. According to the police, he took on a threatening posture and indicated that he would attack the officers. The police used pepper spray, brought the man to the ground and tied him up.
The 24-year-old resisted arrest and resisted. In addition, other Rot Weiss Ahlen supporters showed solidarity with the attacker and harassed the police. Another bottle was thrown by an unknown Ahlen football fan, who fortunately did not injure the officers. On the way to the police station, the hooligan, who was known to the police, blocked himself again and kicked a policeman in the shins.
Police: RWE supporters were not involved in the riot The federal police were supported by the Essen police, who had also requested reinforcements from neighbouring cities. Together, the police finally succeeded in separating the opposing groups. Supporters of Rot-Weiss Essen, whose club had played against FSV Zwickau on Saturday afternoon, were not involved in the confrontation, the police emphasised.
It was not until the evening that the closure of Essen’s main railway station was lifted and individual trains were able to approach the station again. Long-distance trains were initially diverted and could not stop at the main stations in Essen and Bochum for hours. According to the Bahn AG, normality did not return until around 9.30 p.m.
