Warrior fans beware NEO-NAZIS

Despite the rash of attacks by far-right groups on minorities and the fear that some of the estimated 10,000 neo-Nazis who live in Germany will use World Cup 2006 to broadcast their messages of hatred and intolerance to a global audience, the German Embassy in Port-of-Spain and the Foreign Affairs Ministry remain mum on the issue.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said Minister Knowlson Gift was not in office and the ministry had no advisory for TT fans or the cultural contingent travelling to Germany. Meanwhile, the German Embassy declined comment on the matter of race attacks in Germany.

A spate of attacks on African and Asian immigrants in recent weeks has fuelled the concerns raised by a former German government spokesman who has warned that foreign visitors to eastern Germany run the risk of racist beatings.

At least ten foreigners have been injured, one of them badly, in a series of neo-Nazi attacks in three German cities over the past 53 days, only nine days before the opening of the 2006 World Cup Football Finals. Three of the neo-Nazi assaults took place in Berlin where four Turks, a Lebanese man and a national from the African state of Guinea were targeted in the racial attacks. A total of 14 people have been detained as a result of the far-right incidents in Berlin, according to its police.

Scheduled to play its first-round matches in the city of Berlin are Brazil, Croatia, Sweden, Paraguay, Germany, Ecuador, Ukraine and Tunisia, four of which are considered “minorities” or non-white countries.

There was another racial attack in the east German town of Wismar, where a group of neo-Nazi thugs assaulted three men from Mozambique and Cuba. Police arrested eight men aged between 19 and 29. Also, a 36-year-old Indian man was kicked by neo-Nazi assailants at the same city last week. Five suspects have been detained. Fortunately no matches are scheduled to be played there.

A release by Germany’s domestic Verfassungsschutz intelligence service said neo-Nazi crimes soared to 15,361 cases last year compared to 12,553 in 2004. A new Interior Ministry report showed a 24 percent increase in the number of right-wing attacks, and a rise in neo-Nazis from 3,800 to 4,100.

As with all major sporting events in recent years, security is a prime concern for World Cup organisers and German authorities. During the games that run June 9-July 9 officials are confident that they can maintain security at the stadia, but they are less confident about protecting other venues, such as big-screen viewing areas (fanfests) where large crowds will gather.

Some 129 artistes from TT have scheduled performances at some of these fanfests.

Authorities are worrying that neo-Nazis might cause trouble in outdoor viewing areas. As many as three million football fans from around the world are expected, and the most likely scenario is that the vast majority will have fun. Still, security risks cannot be ignored.

Most of the neo-Nazi crime offences take place in formerly communist east Germany where many youths in the region blame the deep economic problems on foreigners.

TT’s matches are scheduled for Dortmund, Nuremberg and Kaiserslautern. Dortmund and Kaiserslautern are in the west while Nuremberg is in the east. Should TT reach the quarter-finals, the Soca Warriors may play in Berlin, as the first of the quarter-final matches will be held there as well as the grand final.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for local travel agent Mikon, that is taking approximately 400 Trinidadians to Germany from June 7 told Newsday that all of its travellers have been apprised of the situation and that they have planned the trip well. The group will be leaving the country together, staying at the same hotel in each city where the Soca Warriors will be playing, taken by Mikon coaches to and from the games, touring sites together on non-match days then returning home as a group. She added that each hotel has Mikon agents present to deal with any issue that may arise.

Apart from attack by the neo-Nazis, Germany’s federal crime office also views 21 matches as particularly at risk for an Islamic terror attack. These include the opening and closing matches, and games featuring the teams of the US, England, Australia, Poland, Spain and South Korea because they participated in the invasion of Iraq.

In a release yesterday, Germany’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said, “Germany is open to the world and a country that is peace-loving and tolerant, and we will prove that in the World Cup.” He added that there is no such thing as 100 percent security, but that everything humanly possible has been done.

World Cup organisers themselves have insisted that while neo-Nazis may be preparing to make a spectacle of themselves this summer, local police and security services are more than up to the task of keeping them in check. The games, they say, will go on.