Euro 2024: How Germany is ramping up security for ‘high-risk’ England game

Published

1 year ago

June 11, 2024

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Germany is ramping up security ahead of the start of Euro 2024, with England’s tie against Serbia seen by police as high risk.

The heightened security in Gelsenkirchen for England’s opening group game on Sunday means fans will be served lower alcohol beer in the stadium and will not be able to drink in the stands.

Policing will be more challenging as UEFA has asked for barriers to be removed and both sides will be seated close together, with two-thirds of tickets going to mixed areas.

“I think it’s a very high-risk game because of the history, because of the hooligans both sides have,” Chief Inspector Christof Burghardt told Sky News.

“Serbia has many hooligans. The English guys, with alcohol, they are sometimes very aggressive. So it’s a great job to do this, to prepare, so that hopefully nothing will happen.”

Ahead of the game, we joined officers at a league match in Gelsenkirchen which they used as a test run.

At the gates, fans were randomly checked for weapons and booze.

Inside, police watched over the crowd at the potentially volatile clash, on alert for troublemakers.

Using CCTV to surveil the crowd, they spotted a group of masked ultras gathering in the stands and carefully monitored them.

More than 300,000 British fans are expected to travel to Germany for the tournament, making it their highest attendance since Euro 2016 in France.

Germany is hoping to avoid a repeat of riots that year which marred the event and resulted in more than 1,500 arrests.

Fans who breach German public order laws have been warned they could be marched to a cashpoint to pay an on-the-spot fine.

British police have been sharing intelligence and will send the largest deployment of officers since 2016.

So-called police spotters will be on hand to help tackle antisocial behaviour and drink-fuelled violence, trying to talk to fans before things get out of hand.

Many of the worst offenders have been stopped from travelling altogether.

“We currently have approximately 2,000 people on the banning order which basically means they can’t travel to tournaments and they can’t go into football stadiums,” explains Chief Superintendent Colette Rose, from UK Football Policing.

“Over 2,000 troublemakers away from football has made it a much safer place. When you play that out over the last eight to ten years the behaviour of football fans has been far, far better. We have no arrests in Qatar and we had very, very few arrests in the tournaments preceding that.”

Policing the Euros is a complex challenge because it’s not just about keeping the 2.7 million fans safe in the 10 stadiums where the games are being played, there are also the 12 million in the fan zones to look after.

Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said everything is being done to ensure the event is safe.

“You can never 100% guarantee security but we are well-prepared and remain very vigilant,” she said.

Some 22,000 federal police officers will be on duty every day of the tournament.

Security is being stepped up at borders and train stations with the support of officers from other countries and 16,000 volunteers.

In Thuringia, where England have their base camp, police have also been doing drills.

In one scenario, riot police practised stopping hooligans armed with flares and weapons on a train.

They admitted the tense global situation makes security more complex.

“In my opinion, the risk is definitely higher,” said Police Director Frank Haring. “Because of current political events in Ukraine, in Russia and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, terrorist groups could potentially use events like the European Championship for an attack.”

On Friday, police arrested a man at Cologne airport on suspicion of supporting Islamic State. He’s being held in custody.

In a separate incident, a police officer was killed and five other people were injured when an alleged Islamist extremist carried out a knife attack in Mannheim at the end of May.

Despite the risk, Germany says it is ready and can protect the millions of football fans coming here.

World

‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

Published

18 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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'At least 798 killed' at Gaza aid points - as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.

The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.

Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.

The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.

Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.

Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.

“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.

The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.

It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.

The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.

After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

At least 798 people have been killed at Gaza aid points, the UN says

Published

1 day ago

July 11, 2025

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At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.

A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.

The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.

The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.

In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Published

1 day ago

July 11, 2025

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Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.

Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.

The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.

“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.

“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”

Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.

Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.

Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.

“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.

The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.

Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.

It said three children and their mother were among the dead.

Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.

On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.

Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.

A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.

People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.

Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.

A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.

However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.

More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.

Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.