Football fans do not march to protest in Bern
Published: Saturday, Jan 20th 2024, 16:20
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Football fans from all over Switzerland did not travel to Bern on Saturday for a protest action after all. A statement published by various fan scenes reveals that the sole purpose of the rally was to send out a signal against collective punishment.
Collective punishments mean that entire fan curves are banned for a match following incidents. The various fan scenes are vehemently opposed to this. They see the cantonal police directors as the main culprits. However, the fans also have a particular focus on Reto Nause (center), the security director of the city of Berne. He has made a number of pointed comments and incurred the wrath of the fans.
The joint appeal by the Swiss fan scenes and the subsequent reactions showed that "the escalation spiral driven by the cantonal police directors is a dead end", the statement said.
The spiral can only be broken by taking a step back to the tried and tested approach to dealing with football fans as in previous years.
In the past few days, a conspicuous escalation has been conjured up in federal Bern and the security apparatus has been set in motion. "All for nothing", the press release continues.
In the current situation, little is needed to cause major unrest. "More work and less security - these are the consequences of the work of political hardliners."
A few days ago, various fan clubs called for a march to Bern to protest against collective punishment. One such collective punishment, for example, was planned for Saturday with the closure of the YB fan curve in Bern's Wankdorf Stadium. The measure was imposed due to damage to property by YB fans in Zurich.
The Bern cantonal police made it clear on Friday that they would prevent an unauthorized protest. There had been various doubts in the run-up to the event that otherwise fiercely rival fan groups would suddenly join forces for a protest.
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