At the end of March, police officers thwarted an attempt at a large-scale confrontation between groups of hooligans from Lubin, allied with hooligans from football clubs in Bydgoszcz and Bytom. Officers from the provincial police headquarters in Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Bydgoszcz and Łódź took part in the operation targeting hooligan crime.
The police were alerted by people who saw convoys of cars and vans filled with young men. Based on the reports, the police identified the location of the attack planned by the hooligans. A police helicopter was deployed to determine the aggressors’ position.
When police officers arrived at the scene, they noticed several dozen vehicles containing young men dressed alike in white T-shirts. Upon seeing the approaching police cars, the hooligans began to flee. Some vehicles were stopped for roadside checks, during which several dozen people were identified; they turned out to be hooligans who normally lived in various parts of Poland. Naturally, the hooligans could not logically explain their presence in Leszno County, where they were identified. When they were detained for official procedures, each of the men had bandages, gloves and tape on his hands.
The hooligans’ cars also contained mouthguards, clubs, equipment used in combat sports and handheld gas sprayers. In addition, each hooligan was wearing a white T-shirt intended to help identify “their own” during the fight. The men possessed emblems identifying their affiliation with hooligan groups and football teams known to the Police. If the rival groups of hooligans had confronted one another, their number could have been around 300, additionally putting at risk bystanders traveling on the train carrying fans from Legnica.
The Lower Silesian police report that procedures are currently under way to identify as many participants in the incident as possible.
“There is no and will be no tolerance for hooligan acts involving football hooligans,” police officers say. “Lower Silesian police officers are committed to a determined fight against stadium-related thuggery. To this end, we are strengthening our structures and activating every unit in our garrison. Thanks to the effective and swift actions taken by the Police, no one was injured. Police officers will respond every time to any attempts to disrupt public order during mass events involving football hooligans at stadiums, facilities and outside them,” the officers add.