The dispute between the police in Gelsenkirchen and the S04 Ultras continues. Now the police have turned to the public.
FC Schalke 04’s last home game of the season against Hansa Rostock is on Saturday lunchtime. After the 4:0 win at VfL Osnabrück, a stone has fallen from the hearts of all the Royal Blues. Relegation is secured.
For their opponents Hansa Rostock, however, the last chance to stay in the league is at stake. Almost 6,000 fans from the Hanseatic city are expected. A high-security match, for which the police will once again be on site with a large contingent.
However, the Gelsenkirchen police have now turned to the public for a different reason ahead of the match. At the home game against Fortuna Düsseldorf, the Ultras Gelsenkirchen and the Hugos had protested with banners against the public search initiated by the police in connection with suspected crimes committed by Schalke supporters at the last Bundesliga home game against Eintracht Frankfurt.
“The prevention of dangers and the consistent prosecution of misdemeanors and criminal offenses are fundamental building blocks of police work. In the past, the Gelsenkirchen police have shown their willingness to cooperate at various points and the will to improve communication and the desired interaction with the fan groups”, the police wrote in a press release. “Many colleagues from the Gelsenkirchen police are themselves fans of FC Schalke 04, which made the reactions of parts of the organized fan scene to the large public search on 23 April 2024 in the run-up to and during the last home match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Düsseldorf all the more incomprehensible “
It is more than disconcerting when the police are accused of being disproportionate and populist and insulted in the worst possible way simply because they are fulfilling their legal mandate of law enforcement.
Gelsenkirchen’s Chief of Police Tim Frommeyer
Gelsenkirchen’s police chief Tim Frommeyer explains: “It is more than disconcerting when the police have to be accused of disproportionality and populism and insulted in the worst possible way just because they are fulfilling their legal mandate of law enforcement. The instrument of public searches, like many other law enforcement measures, is clearly anchored in the Code of Criminal Procedure. The search under discussion was also ordered by an independent investigating judge at the request of the public prosecutor’s office.”
Frommeyer continued: “I clearly support the many colleagues who are on duty every weekend in Gelsenkirchen, as well as in the other Bundesliga stadiums. In addition, I demand that any initiative against hate and agitation also condemns insults or threats against our police officers in the strongest possible terms.”
45 people have so far been directly or indirectly identified through the public search