An army of police and stadium guards met tens of thousands of partying soccer fans at the World Cup’s opening games on Friday — and aside from a handful of arrests the biggest problem was long lines caused by tight security.
More than 2 800 police officers from Munich and the surrounding Bavaria region watched downtown areas, where helicopters buzzed above fans wearing jerseys from around the world. Officers on horseback patrolled outside the stadium where Germany played Costa Rica, while others mingled in beer halls.
A spate of racially motivated attacks ahead of the tournament has raised concerns of xenophobic attacks and hooliganism — and there were stirrings of that sentiment on Friday.
Hours before the game, Munich police said they removed a World Cup banner with swastikas from a highway bridge and in Berlin police said they raided the headquarters of a far-right political party, confiscating about 3 000 World Cup guides with racist overtones.
But in Munich’s streets there were only scattered problems; police reported 17 arrests for ”minor offenses”, including attempted pick-pocketing and pushing over a security fence.
At the stadium all was quiet amid a heavy security presence.
”It all went very smoothly,” German organising committee spokesperson Jens Grittner said. ”For the first game of a World Cup, it was excellent.”
Guards checked pockets, bags, even wallets — and confiscated hundreds of bottles, flag poles and video cameras that fans could pick up later.
Even those who had items temporarily taken didn’t seem upset.
Swantje Wittstock surrendered a bottle of Hugo Boss perfume and wasn’t sure she’d have time to collect it on her way to post-game revelry.
”I don’t mind — you’re not supposed to have glass in the stadium and I just forgot I had it,” Wittstock said. ”I think the security is OK if it keeps everything safe.”
Bottlenecked lines at stadium gates eased to a trickle of fans just before kick-off.
”The Germans are pretty efficient,” said local resident Sophie Spindler as she entered. ”We didn’t think there’d be much trouble.”
Tight security didn’t bother retailers, many of whom had private guards at store entrances.
”It has been extremely busy,” said Karl Buergl, manager of one of the few shops on a main public square licensed to sell official German team gear. ”It’s overwhelming.”
By early afternoon, the most action police saw was cheerily moving a seven-piece band away from the main railway station. Responding to boos from the crowd, officers explained the music made it too difficult for people to hear station announcements.
Just like Munich, the city hosting Friday’s other game between Poland and Ecuador also was calm. Police in Gelsenkirchen didn’t arrest anyone and reported nothing worse than a few broken car windows before the evening game.
”I can live with this for four weeks, can’t you?” said Gelsenkirchen press spokesperson Frank Sobotta.
Elsewhere, however, authorities were busy.
In Berlin, police seized literature from the National Democratic Party that warned of foreign infiltration into the national soccer team, said Michael Grunwald, a spokesperson for Berlin prosecutors.
There were no immediate arrests.
In Frankfurt, where England play Paraguay on Saturday, there were two separate incidents on Thursday involving English fans.
Three men were banned from matches after a skirmish with a taxi driver who refused to pick them up at the Cologne airport because they were drunk, authorities said. Police also broke up a skirmish between two English fans and a Greek man in the city’s red-light district.
And in England, four men with histories of unruly behaviour at soccer games were detained at the airport. British police have been conducting joint patrols of the country’s ports with counterparts from Germany in hopes of preventing hooligans from travelling to Germany. — Sapa-AP
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writer Melissa Eddy in Munich; AP sports writer Robert Millward in Frankfurt; AP sports writer Josh DuBow and Associated Press writer Roy Kammerer in Gelsenkirchen