Following the conclusion of 1. FC Union Berlin’s 2.Bundesliga match at 1. FC Köln on Monday August 13, a group of young Union supporters were attacked en route to Berlin by fans of Cologne with bottles and stones. The police intervened but also were attacked during the course of the clashes.

During the immediate police investigation, Union supporters from a second bus were questioned as witnesses and brought back to Cologne. They were allowed to continue their journey back to Berlin two hours later.

The supporters who were travelling on the attacked bus were themselves officially identified. This process overall took about seven hours. The mobile phones of all travellers were confiscated. Only in the early morning could the bus begin its journey back to Berlin. According to police in Cologne it is currently being examined whether the incident was an agreed, third-party confrontation.

“Both the statements of our supporters and from the police leave us in no doubt about who caused the violence in Cologne. Therefore, it’s highly questionable why the victims of the attacks are treated as perpetrators in the context of the investigations,” said Christian Arbeit, spokesperson for 1. FC Union Berlin. “The bus, which was mainly made up of very young Union fans, was already being accompanied by police at the time of the attacks. An agreed confrontation is absolutely ruled out and so we expect the investigations and statements to make a clear distinction between those responsible for violent clashes and those impacted by them.”

1.FC Union Berlin support the efforts of police in Cologne to investigate the events and those responsible for carrying out violent acts and the club calls on the perpetrators to explain their behaviour.