Eight English fans were arrested in Munich ahead of Tuesday’s Nations League tie away to Germany, according to local reports. Three of the fans were arrested for performing the Nazi salute, one for letting off a flare in his hotel room, one for urinating in public and two others were arrested for insulting a police officer.
It is a crime to perform the Nazi salute in Germany, with an offender getting punished up to three years in prison for the offence committed, although tourists are often just fined for the offensive gesture.
As per the Munich fire brigade, the fan who let off a pyrotechnic flare lit the flare from the window, managing to fill the first floor of the hotel with smoke. Meanwhile, unconfirmed images posted on social media showed “Millwall Berserkers”, a neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic hooligan group in the city, displaying their banners in various points around the city.
It is also reported that Police in the Bavarian city were called in twice for a disturbance at one of Munich’s iconic beer cellars where a group of around 300 tourist fans were disturbing the peace.
These instances were all reported after English head coach Gareth Southgate had warned his compatriots against misbehaving in Germany. He said, in an interview, that “you feel ashamed when you hear about it” as it reflected poorly on the country and the team.
Officially, the visitors were allocated 3466 tickets for the game at the Allianz Arena. However, as per reports, thousands more could have gotten in using fake information to buy tickets from the Germany FA.
The game against Germany happened to be England’s first significant, full-capacity international since the Covid-19 pandemic. Interestingly, the incident followed comparatively soon after the chaos in Paris before and after the 2022 UEFA Champions League final that also involved Liverpool’s supporters.
Meanwhile, Harry Kane’s 50th international goal helped England to a 1-1 draw against the Germans, who went ahead into the game courtesy of Jonas Hofmann’s strike. With the penalty goal, Kane moved within three goals of Wayne Rooney’s 53-goal record.
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