Davidfpo

Invariably the violence is match or time specific and venue or location specific, admittedly the numbers involved can vary, but for the police knowing when and where is a great help.
I disagree with you on this point mentioned above. You are right insofar as violence of Hooligans normally erupts around the football matches and that the police can take actions to seperate the different groups. Or at least it is perceived to be like that.... The article from "Der Spiegel" tells a different story. Hooliganism is no longer a problem that can be narrowed to to football or any other specific sport. Warszaw is acutally partitioned into territories which "belongs" to one or the other group. And if one enters the territory of the other group they go after him and probably kill him.

But there is another point. Even in Switzerland hooligan violence can no longer be solely attributed to the sports events. Sadly enough that even in Switzerland we need some hundreds of policemen every weekend to avoid clashes (notably in a country with on of the lowest police officiers to inhabitants rates, at least in Europe). But during the last weeks a different phenomenon has emerged in Zurich. Groups of youths gathering on Friday's and Saturday's evenings to riot in the city. Everytime they gahtered under the pretext of organising a public party. Among them were a considerable number of hooligans from the local football clubs. And the level of aggression against the law enforcemtn officers was appallingly high.

So what I want to say is that hooligan violence no longer can be considered as a time and place specific event, but that the different groups follow a agenda where they fight for influence and power not only among the hooligan gangs but also as the example Waszwaw shows among the population of a city which they terrorize - also because the police no longer takes action against them.

PS. I hope my point is clear enough. I'm sorry if my English is a bit clumsy.