Europe News
German policeman seriously hurt in football fan violence
Nov 1, 2009, 17:16 GMT
Krefeld, Germany - A German police officer was seriously injured after being attacked by football fans in Krefeld on Sunday in the latest incident of violence marring the country's lower leagues.
Police said a group of KFC Uerdingen fans attacked the officer who was repeatedly kicked in the head as he lay on the ground. The officer was taken to hospital with head injuries.
The fans also attacked police arriving at the scene, injuring a policewoman on the arm. Two men were arrested.
Uerdingen played as Bayer Uerdingen in the Bundesliga but the club is now in a regional fifth division.
German football has been marred by several incidents of fan violence recently.
On Friday, 36 people including 11 police were injured in rioting which broke out during a regional fourth-division match between FSV Zwickau and Erzgebirge Aue.
Police detained 54 fans during the game in which fans ripped up seats and used them as missiles, attacked police and stewards with fireworks and tried to climb fencing around the pitch.
In an incident the previous weekend around 50 fans at a lower league game in eastern Germany clashed with opposition supporters and police after storming the pitch armed with stones, iron bars and wooden planks.
Last week police in Saxony-Anhalt state said they would be seeking attempted murder charges against hooligans after an incident in late September when masked fans launched an attack on police at a regional game between Halleschen FC and Magdeburg.
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