The regional league game between the FC Bayern amateurs and Türkgücü Munich only lasts two minutes. Because fans do not want to remove a banner related to Kurdistan, the police present use pepper spray. Several people are injured.
The regional league game between Türkgücü Munich and the amateurs of FC Bayern Munich was canceled shortly after kick-off after a police operation with injuries. A flag with a Kurdish symbol was the trigger for Bayern fans, said a police spokesman on request. According to media reports, it was an apparently unauthorized banner with the words “FC Bayern Fanclub Kurdistan”. As a result, the mood among the fans changed. The police then called for reinforcements.
According to the police, the fans did not take down the flag despite being asked, so the officials used pepper spray, it was said. Several people were injured as a result. It is not yet clear how many. They were treated on site as an outpatient. According to FC Bayern’s statement, only two minutes had been played before the referee first interrupted and then stopped the game. Twitter users accused the police of excessive harshness.
The reason for the game being abandoned was that security was no longer guaranteed, as the Bavarian Football Association announced. “The fact that the game was abandoned can by no means be in the interests of football – any form of violence has no place on our pitches,” said the association. It is still unclear whether the Kurdish symbol was an emblem of the banned PKK.
In the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul, six people died in an attack last Sunday and more than 80 were injured. The Turkish government blamed the PKK, the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, and the Kurdish militia YPG. They deny responsibility.