Overview
- About 20 to 30 masked individuals targeted a coach carrying Kölner Haie supporters on Mühlenstraße near the Oberbaumbrücke following Sunday’s semifinal at Berlin’s Uber Arena.
- Attackers struck the vehicle with flagpoles, bottles, and fists, forced open luggage holds to steal drums and flags, and some entered the bus, injuring one passenger with a thrown bottle.
- Plainclothes officers who had been trailing the coach intervened, the group fled into a nearby fan zone to change clothes, and police checked 92 people and recovered stolen items.
- Authorities opened a case for a particularly serious breach of the peace, a major public-order offense in Germany that can bring significant criminal penalties.
- Eisbären Berlin condemned the assault, apologized to Cologne’s club and fans, pledged help identifying suspects and internal sanctions, and upcoming fixtures are now classed as higher risk with increased police presence.