'Euro 2024' Chaos in Germany... Even President's Son Involved in Violence

Serbian President's Son Involved in Violent Incident
Ex-convict Entry Ban Enforced and Police Deployed, Yet Insufficient

Ahead of the group stage matches of the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2024), a brawl broke out between England and Serbia football fans in the host country, Germany. In addition, violent incidents during Euro 2024 involved pickaxes and Molotov cocktails, and it was reported that even the president's son participated in the violence, causing shock.

On the 16th (local time), during the UEFA Euro 2024 group stage match between England and Serbia held in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany, Serbian fans are cheering.
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

On the 18th, Yonhap News reported that around 3:45 PM, about five hours before the match between England and Serbia near Gelsenkirchen in western Germany, fans of England and Serbia clashed by throwing outdoor tables and chairs from a restaurant at each other and breaking glass bottles. The police announced that they arrested a total of eight people, including seven Serbian fans and one English fan who caused the disturbance. One person who suffered a head injury was hospitalized but was discharged to watch the match. A Serbian fan claimed, "I was drinking beer when a group of men threw glass cups and stones at us."

The brawl also involved Danilo Bu?i? (26), son of Serbian President Aleksandar Vu?i?, and it was reported that security guards from the Serbian military police special unit restrained him. Danilo Bu?i? has previously been embroiled in controversy due to his friendship with Veljko Belivuk, the hooligan leader of the Serbian club FK Partizan and a crime syndicate boss.

On the night of the opening match between Germany and Scotland on the 14th, in a residential area of the eastern small town of Volmirstedt, a 27-year-old man of Afghan origin attacked people watching football together with a weapon, killing one and injuring three. The suspect was shot by police and died while receiving treatment. On the 16th, in the bustling Reeperbahn area of Hamburg, where the group stage match between Poland and the Netherlands took place, a 39-year-old man threatened police officers with a mountaineering pickaxe and Molotov cocktails but was subdued after being shot in the leg by police. The police sprayed pepper spray to restrain him, but the man reportedly tried to ignite a Molotov cocktail. At the time, thousands of Dutch fans were marching nearby.

Additionally, four matches during the group stage, including Germany-Hungary (19th), England-Denmark (20th), and Scotland-Hungary (23rd), have all been designated as high-risk matches.

The host country Germany classified the match between England and Serbia as a "high-risk match" and prepared accordingly, anticipating a large number of English and Serbian hooligans traveling for away support, but they failed to prevent the violent incidents. Authorities judged that there was a high possibility of clashes between notorious English hooligans and Balkan hooligans, who have shown violent tendencies linked to far-right groups in recent years. Therefore, they banned the entry of alcoholic beverages into the stadium and only sold low-alcohol beer with 2.8% alcohol content as countermeasures. Furthermore, German authorities blocked the entry of 900 individuals with violent criminal records at borders with neighboring countries from the 7th to the 13th, one week before the opening, arrested 173 people, and deployed 22,000 police officers daily, but these efforts were insufficient to prevent the violent incidents.