Police Injured as Soccer Fans and Gangs Battle
Ten policemen were reported injured in Hamburg, West Germany, as soccer fans and youth gangs battled after the Netherlands’ victory over West Germany in the European soccer championships.
Bernd Metterhausen, spokesman for the Hamburg police, said that a gang of about 1,000 German fans clashed in a red-light district of the city and that the unrest continued into the early hours.
The Reeperbahn, an area of Hamburg noted for its sex cinemas and peep shows, was lined with police vans as about 600 riot police, some with dogs, restored order. The officers, in helmets and shields, made at least 30 arrests, police said.
Several hundred Dutch fans, celebrating the 2-1 victory that put their team into the tournament final against the Soviet Union, appeared to be taking no part in the violence. In Aachen, however, one drunken Dutch fan fell to his death from his hotel room, Metterhausen said.
Gennadi Litovchenko and Oleg Protasov scored three minutes apart in the second half as the Soviet Union beat Italy, 2-0, at Stuttgart, West Germany to advance to Saturday’s championship game in Munich’s Olympic Stadium.
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