As of: March 28, 2024, 12:42 p.m
By: Philipp Kuserau
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Despite the German U21's victory against Israel, a political banner remains in focus. The resulting turmoil raises questions.
Halle/Saale – The German U21 national team took a decisive step towards European Championship qualification with an impressive 2-0 win against Israel. With these three points, the young DFB players have taken the lead in their qualifying group. However, the sporting triumph was marred by unrest in the stands at the Leuna Chemie Stadium in Halle.
Pro-Israel banner is rolled out during U21 match between Germany and Israel
The trigger for the unrest was a banner with a pro-Israel message that was presented in the stands on Tuesday evening and eventually removed by security forces.
As soon as the two teams entered the field, a poster with the inscription “Bring them home now” was unrolled on the opposite stand. The message on the banner referred to the approximately 130 Israeli hostages kidnapped and held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
A pro-Israel banner was removed by law enforcement officers during the U21 international match between Germany. © IMAGO/BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Luciano Lima
Spectators must be led to another area of the stadium
According to the
German Press Agency,
the poster was initially removed from the stands on the instructions of the security forces, but only after some time had already passed. According to the DFB, an aggressive mood then developed in this spectator area.
The association reported that groups of people, including children, had to be moved to other areas of the stadium due to the tense atmosphere.
“For de-escalation reasons”: law enforcement officers remove political banners
Shortly before the end of the game, the banner appeared again in the stands. However, this time the security forces themselves intervened and removed it immediately.
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“When the banner (...) was shown again towards the end of the game, the law enforcement officers intervened for de-escalation reasons and removed the banner,” is the DFB’s explanation for this measure, which met with a lot of criticism, particularly on social media.
Left-wing politician criticizes the measures taken by the law enforcement officers during the U21 game
The member of the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt, Henriette Quade (Die Linke), described the actions on X (formerly Twitter) as “absurd and telling”. However, the DFB sticks to its position and argues that the banner was not approved. “In principle, banners with political messages are not permitted in the stadium at UEFA games,” the association said in response to a request from the
dpa
.
According to a report in the
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung,
the poster's message also led to unrest in the stadium. There were said to be shouts of “boos” from the stands and cups were said to have flown towards the area of the stadium where the banner was unfurled. It was only in the spring that the DFB punished Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen for a discriminatory poster.
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