Federal police sensitized to border controls due to European Championships

For a week now, during the European Football Championship, attention has also been paid to fans with a potential for violence on Saxony's borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. Up to and including 19 June, officers are also being made aware of fans with a potential for violence and possible troublemakers "who we want to keep away from the stadiums" during the stationary checks reintroduced in October 2023, said a spokesperson for the Pirna Federal Police Directorate on Thursday in response to an inquiry.

Football travel will also be monitored on the rail route from Prague to Dresden and at Erfurt and Magdeburg train stations, as well as at Dresden, Leipzig-Halle and Erfurt airports. Additional forces will only be deployed there.

"We are checking travel intentions to see whether people have become conspicuous in the police system and in the past," said the spokesperson. The authorities have the legal means to terminate journeys and turn people back at the border. Traffic jams due to delays, especially when entering the country, cannot be ruled out, "but we can react."

On Wednesday afternoon, a soccer fan from Georgia's journey unexpectedly came to an end at a rest area on the A4 freeway near Görlitz. The 40-year-old, who said he was going to a game in Dortmund, was sent to prison. He was unable to pay a fine for theft with weapons from February and has been banned from entering and staying in Saxony by the immigration authorities.

The Federal Police have been able to carry out temporary checks at all German borders since 7 June due to the high security precautions for the European Football Championship and also check travelers from the Schengen area in air traffic and at ports. The stationary controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland had been extended several times in order to combat smuggling crime and limit irregular migration.