As with past international, live events, security faces numerous concerns, particularly the threat of terrorism. In Germany’s case, authorities fear an Islamist terrorism strike aimed at the fans. Anti-terror police have identified 21 matches as “high risk” for Islamist terrorism; these are matches that involve US allies in the Global War on Terrorism and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. According to the article, no-fly zones have been established around the stadiums and housing complexes. While security measures are in place to guard against suicide bombers or IEDs being brought into stadiums, the desire of the Germans to provide 300 public viewing areas will prove more difficult to secure. According to the article, “There will be no airport-style metal detectors, and bag searches will be random?[and] almost no security checks.” These soft targets, most located near symbolic infrastructure (churches, shopping areas, public transportation hubs, German government buildings, Brandenburg Gate, etc), may prove appealing for Islamist, hooligans, and neo-Nazis alike.
The threat to Germany by radical jihadists bend on disrupting the World Cup has, however, taken a back seat to the more likely disruption caused by the growing xenophobia movement, particularly in eastern Germany. New statistics were released on May 22, 2006 illustrating a marked rise in the neo-Nazi movement . The report from the Bundesverfassungsschutz (the domestic intelligence service) indicated a 23 percent rise in “far-right violence” to 958 incidents and right-wing extremists’ numbers rose to 10,400, and politically motivated right-wing crime rose 27 percent to 15,361 (source). However, according to Der Tagesspiegel, “It is important that in the year of the World Cup the impression isn’t given that Germany is full of skinheads running around with clubs.” The government was embarrassed publicly with former spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye’s comments that “dark skinned” visitors should avoid eastern Germany (source), a biting slant against Germany’s hospitality and enthusiasm for sponsoring the Cup. Specifically, he said, “There are small and medium-sized towns in Brandenburg, as well as elsewhere, which I would advise a visitor of another skin color to avoid going to?It is possible he wouldn’t get out alive.” He was supported by Yonas Endrias, of Germany’s African Council, who said: “There is also racism in western Germany, but as a black person, the chances of being attacked in an eastern German village are much higher.” Heye went on to say that many in Germany “look the other way when it comes to right wing violence.” Just three weeks after a violent, racist attack there, Heye specifically mentioned Brandenburg, Berlin’s state, whose Governor responded with: “[the comments are an] unjustifiable slandering of entire regions within Brandenburg.” The leftist Die Tageszeitung snidely contends that Brandenburg officials have a case of World Cup-induced amnesia, as the state published a paper in 2005 noting 17 places “where extreme-right groups are active and spontaneously attack anyone who looks different from them” (source). Others condemn Heye for his public lashing, fearing he has emboldened the movement by admitting to their successes in keeping out foreigners. Heye later clarified that he had no intention of “stigmatizing” Brandenburg as the sole state with racism problems and praised the state for its efforts (source), yet he noted that much work remains to be done?both in his home state of Brandenburg and throughout the country?to counter right-wing extremism. According to Claus Christain Mazahn of Spiegel Online:
What [Heye] says doesn’t suddenly become no longer true because he has modified it. I certainly don’t know anyone who would encourage a dark-skinned friend to visit certain parts of Magdeburg, Halle or Rostock at night. Even in Berlin, we have become accustomed to having certain no-go areas for foreigners. We’ve just gotten used to it. Now someone has said it out loud and we are all shocked — even the man who said it in the first place.
Heye has now found himself a spokesman of an issue that many want remedied but are unwilling to discuss openly. Much ado can be anticipated on this issue, as it polarizes Ossis (those from the former East) and Wessies (those from the former West) and drags social and economic tensions back to the fore in German debates.
A neo-Nazi protest has been called through online media for June 21 in Leipzig, in the lead-up to the Iran v. Angola match. The protest is in solidarity with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s desire to “wipe Israel off the map” and his revisionist stance. He was also planning an appearance in Nuremberg on June 11, although this may now have been cancelled for security reasons. This demo is likely to have a counter-demo that involves anti-right wingers, Iranian exiles, and English fans present for a match with Trinidad, and clashes can be anticipated should they go forward. The main police union has petitioned the courts to prevent protests near the matches, claiming “the police won’t have the manpower to secure such events.”
