Suspects still in custody after throwing firecrackers
Following the explosion of a firecracker during FC Augsburg's Bundesliga match against TSG Hoffenheim, the two suspects are still in police custody. This was confirmed by the Bavarian police in Swabia on Sunday morning when asked. The number of injured persons initially remained at eleven. There was no "danger to life" for any of them, they added. It is probably mainly about bang trauma.
The firework had been thrown from the "guest block area" during the 1:1 between FCA and Hoffenheim on Saturday and exploded near the corner flag. The police did not provide any information about the injured persons. According to the newspaper "Augsburger Allgemeine", a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old girl are also said to have been affected.
Two men were arrested during the match. They are "suspected of being involved in the crime". They were identified from video footage of the incident, as confirmed by the police. TSG sporting director Alexander Rosen called the firecracker throwing after the match "nonsense that cannot be believed". FCA sporting director Marinko Jurendić demanded: "This must be punished severely." Like the players on the pitch, most of the 28,000 spectators escaped with a scare.
Referee Felix Brych interrupted the match for around five minutes in the 57th minute due to the incident. The game was then played out without further incident. "I've never heard such a loud bang in a soccer stadium," said Brych, who is also very experienced internationally. "I made it clear that if something like that happened again, we would have to leave the pitch," reported the 48-year-old.
The referee referred to the DFB's so-called three-stage plan, which would have involved abandoning the match as a final reaction. As a first step, Brych had gathered the players in the center circle for a discussion.
TSG Hoffenheim apologized in a statement on Saturday evening and announced that they would support the investigating authorities to ensure that the incident was fully investigated. "This is the first time in our 16 years in the Bundesliga that we have been confronted with such an insane aberration," it said. With its values, TSG stands for peaceful coexistence.
Despite the arrest of two men for their suspected involvement in the firecracker incident during FC Augsburg's Bundesliga match against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, this incident has once again highlighted the need for stricter crowd control measures during Soccer matches in Germany. FC Augsburg and TSG Hoffenheim both explicitly condemned such acts, showing that they are committed to maintaining a peaceful environment in Bundesliga games.
Source: www.dpa.com
