Overview
- Thousands rallied across German cities over the weekend against Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s “Stadtbild” comments, with reported turnouts including about 2,600 in Hamburg, 500 in Hildesheim, 150 in Arnsberg and 200 in Bonn.
- Local chapters of the Left Party in Bochum and Essen joined a coordinated criminal complaint to the Berlin prosecutor alleging incitement under §130 StGB, a step seen by organizers as a political signal with uncertain legal prospects.
- A violent clash between VfL Wolfsburg and FC St. Pauli supporters on a Hannover main station platform triggered major police operations, video reviews and subsequent train stops and checks in Hamburg-Harburg and Frankfurt.
- Frankfurt police halted an ICE and issued stadium and city bans to more than 200 St. Pauli fans, prompting the club and fan groups to question proportionality; coach Alexander Blessin criticized the response, drawing a sharp rebuke from a police union official.
- Separately, Eintracht Braunschweig imposed nationwide stadium bans on two individuals over xenophobic insults, an assault and Nazi slogans, with police opening criminal cases; media reports identified the racially abused player as Sidi Sané, though the club did not name him.