LEIPZIG, Germany, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A week after soccer-related riots shocked Italy, violent German hooligans clashed with police at a soccer match in eastern Germany.
After a weekend soccer game in the eastern German city of Leipzig, roughly 800 hooligans attacked the 300 police stationed in front of the stadium, setting off a clash that resulted in 36 injured officers, six injured bystanders, and 21 damaged police cars.
The hooligans after the final whistle began to hurl stones, concrete objects and beer bottles at officers, and also aimed at their horses and dogs. The police answered by using pepper spray and bats. Police said they were "willfully targeted."
"If soccer is a disguise for lust to kill, then this sport will soon be buried," Konrad Freiberg, head of the German police union, said Monday.
Five people have been arrested, but officials are sighting video material to identify more suspects.
German politicians have called for strict measures to avoid Italian-style circumstances, where last week a police officer in Sicily was killed by an angry mob of soccer thugs.
