The Hamburger SV has complained about an alleged choreo ban at Schalke by the police. The authorities rejected the allegations.

Frustration had spread among Hamburger SV and its active fan scene ahead of their visit to FC Schalke 04 on Saturday (20:30, RS live ticker). The reason: The Gelsenkirchen police banned the HSV supporters from a planned choreography.

“The reason given was that several clubs have already set off pyrotechnics in Schalke’s visitors’ block this season and that a choreography could be misappropriated for the use of pyrotechnics,” the northern club announced in a statement on Thursday.

The police apparently see things differently. The authorities also published a statement on Thursday in which they emphasized: “At no time did the Gelsenkirchen police justify their refusal to give their approval by stating that several clubs had set off pyrotechnics in Schalke’s visitors’ block this season.”

On the contrary, the police had banned the choreography because the Hamburg fans apparently wanted to put up a block flag. This led to the expectation “that Hamburger SV fans – as at several previous matches this season – would set off dangerous and therefore prohibited pyrotechnics under the cover of the block flag.”

A fan action without a block flag or a promise by the club not to use pyrotechnics during the choreography, on the other hand, could have led to a permit. According to the police, Hamburg would not have accepted this proposal.

“The offer of talks from the police still stands,” said the responsible police director Andreas Morbach. They are still interested in a dialog with HSV. “Of course we want to enable fan culture. But that doesn’t include burning pyrotechnics and endangering bystanders.”

The extent to which the authorities and the Hanseatic club will be able to resolve their differences in time will become clear on Saturday evening in the stadium at the latest. There will be a choreography in any case: Schalke supporters are planning an action, which has also been approved.