UEFA EURO 2024 - Operational review of the first match of the European Football Championship in Cologne

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UEFA EURO 2024 - Operational review of the first match of the European Football Championship in Cologne
On the occasion of the first match of the UEFA EURO 2024 on Saturday (June 15) between the teams from Switzerland and Hungary in Cologne, Head of Operations Martin Lotz spoke of a "largely incident-free operation".
PLZ
51103
Polizei Köln
Police Cologne

Two fan marches of supporters of both national teams started at 12 noon with a total of several 10,000 participants from the fan meeting points on Girlitzweg and Kitschburger Straße in the direction of the stadium. Meanwhile, Hungarian supporters occasionally set off pyrotechnics. In one case, a Hungarian was taken into custody because he did not comply with an order to leave the stadium.

In two cases, the emergency services filed criminal charges because several participants in the Hungarian fan stadium were alleged to have shouted slogans with inciting content.

In addition, the emergency services were able to stop more than ten drones in no-fly zones in the city of Cologne, bring them to land and identify at least eight of the suspected drone pilots. Criminal proceedings were initiated against them.

Martin Lotz sums up: "After weeks of preparations, we are very satisfied with how the operation went today. The police deployment concept has proven its worth and has so far ensured a safe day of soccer. We are looking forward with confidence to the coming days of operations in Cologne".
 

Translated with DeepL.com (API Version)
In urgent cases: Police emergency number 110