St. Gallen City Police on massive inspection: ‘It was not a generalization’

On Saturday evening, the guest section of Kibunpark was eerily quiet. Servette fans boycotted the game because the city police of St. Gallen had previously carried out a major check. The reason for this was the riots in October last year, when some supporters of Servette attacked the peaceful fans of St. Gallen. A police officer was also injured.

The action caused a stir not only among the fans. The club itself also made a statement about the procedure. But did the city police react disproportionately? And why did she resort to this rather powerful remedy at all? We filed charges with the city police of St. Gallen.

What exactly happened on the check?

Dionysus Widmer, spokesman for the St. Gallen city police, told FM1Today that the control took place on the roadway of the stadium. According to Widmer, the police stopped the fans there and briefly detained them. Widmer doesn’t want to know anything about the generalization of all fans regarding identity verification. The emergency services informed fans of the identity verification through an announcement. It was reported that people who did not obey the signal could continue moving. “Actually, women or older people could enter the stadium without any problem,” Widmer said. Because last fall’s footage would have excluded these people as criminals. However, the fans refused to take control. “That’s why we then visually checked every person that walked by to see if they could be criminals,” Widmer continued.

Why was the image search not performed?

Football fan riots in St. Gallen are not an isolated incident. FCZ supporters were also wanted. At that time, images were first pixelated and then released uncensored. This time, too, there were pictures of the Servette chaos, but the city police did not publish them. But why? According to Widmer, in this case, the police seek legal assistance. In this case, the Geneva cantonal police were asked for help and the images were provided. However, since the search was unsuccessful, the city police of St. Gallen decided to identify the perpetrators as part of a document check. According to media spokesman Widmer, the move was the right one: “We were able to identify nine people directly from the photographs and thus initiate the procedure.”

Is control proportional?

As Widmer explains, control was necessary for the city police. The police were specifically looking for people, and not just putting everyone under general suspicion. The city police had 20 dossiers on criminals that the Geneva police could not identify. It was clear to the city police that these people would reappear at the Servette game in St. Gallen. According to Widmer, only 22 people were effectively screened. Of those 22, nine may be related to the riots.

Was this check carried out only because a police officer was injured during the riots?

Dionysus Widmer unambiguously denies this accusation. Servette supporters first attacked civilian FCSG fans, including families, in October 2022. For example, they threw stones and chairs. “It could have ended badly,” a police spokesman said, adding: “We don’t tolerate violence in St. Gallen.” In this regard, appropriate measures were initiated and implemented.

Was this control an isolated case?

Such identity checks are possible measures to identify suspected criminals, Widmer said. But he does not want to be looked at exactly at the cards. “We cannot say in what cases we conduct such checks,” Widmer says. This will be judged according to the situation. However, Widmer emphasizes that such a check is certainly not the first measure. However, he again refers to the unsuccessful search in Geneva.

Is permission required for such a check?

No, the city police may conduct such an identity check without permission. This is one of the duties of the police.