DORTMUND, Germany (AP) - Borussia Dortmund’s top officials have promised to crack down on fan violence after six Leipzig supporters, four police officers and a police dog were injured before Saturday’s Bundesliga game.
“Dortmund will do everything to clear up the wrongdoing of our own supporters and to sanction them hard within the realms of possibility,” Dortmund president Reinhard Rauball and CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said in a joint statement on Sunday.
“To put it clearly, whoever cannot express his opinion through argument but only through brute force and clumsy insults, can’t, shouldn’t and will not be part of the Dortmund family.”
Dortmund police filed 28 charges for breaches of the law after Leipzig supporters were pelted with stones and cans by Dortmund fans as they approached the stadium.
Police used batons and pepper spray to control the “extreme aggression,” which it said was “directed against any person who could be identified as a Leipzig fan, regardless of whether they were small children, women or families.”
Leipzig called the violence “unacceptable.”
Earlier Sunday, Dortmund said it “deeply regrets” the violence and that it was cooperating with police. The club wished injured Leipzig fans a speedy recovery.
Dortmund won the game 1-0 thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s first-half header to go third behind Leipzig.
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