England fans told to use ‘common sense’ on behaviour at Euro 2024

LONDON: English police said soccer fans travelling to the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany later this year should use their common sense about culturally sensitive behaviour to avoid falling foul of German public order laws.

Britain will send its largest ever deployment of officers to work with their German counterparts to help police the tournament with more than 300,000 fans expected to travel, many without tickets. The exact size of the police deployment was not disclosed.

British police, the foreign office and supporter groups will offer guidance to fans to help them avoid them breaking German law, warning that local police could issue on-the-spot fines and escort offenders to the nearest bank to ensure payment.

But, the majority of fans knew what was right and wrong, said Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Lead for Football Policing “Let’s be realistic, some of this stuff you really don’t need telling that’s its going to be a criminal offence in any normal Western democracy, so there is an element of common sense here,” Roberts said at a briefing alongside German police in London.

“You don’t really have to get your almanac out to check the finer points of German legislation, just go and be a good guest and have a good time.” When England played against Germany in a 2017 friendly in Dortmund, it resulted in the English Football Association condemning the behaviour of some fans, who were seen making Nazi salutes.

Police director Oliver Strudthoff, of the German International Police Cooperation Center, urged fans to understand that what was acceptable behaviour in Britain, might not be acceptable in Germany. German police had scope to act with “zero tolerance” on this if necessary, he added.