By raising a banner in the Ostseestadion, fans of the second division soccer club FC Hansa Rostock caused outrage on Sunday.
“What was shown there is simply unbelievable, disrespectful and inhumane,” said Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Interior Minister Torsten Renz (CDU) on Monday.
The banner read “One less, ACAB!” (All cops are bastards) and, according to Renz, referred to the death of a police officer from Hamburg “disrespectful and derogatory”.
According to the police union (DPolG) Hamburg, he died at a training course in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after a night exercise at the age of 24.
Renz emphasized that distancing and apologizing by the club was no longer enough.
“I expect those responsible to take full action to ensure that such degrading banners cannot even get into the stadium.” Hansa Rostock condemned the banner in a statement on Monday morning.
The state chairman of the DPolG Hamburg, Thomas Jungfer, condemned "with all severity the disgusting and inhuman hate messages of so-called football fans". Anyone who uses the tragic death of a young person to act out his hatred of police officers is very violent of decency, respectful coexistence and understanding of values in society. "We will not allow the memory of a colleague to be dehumanized and dragged into the mud."
Jungfer called on Hamburg's interior and sports senator Andy Grote (SPD) to file a criminal complaint.
Hansa Rostock should apologize to the dead police officer's parents.
The union also expects FC St. Pauli, where Hansa Rostock is visiting on Sunday, to send a positive signal to the police.
"You could publicly distance yourself from the Rostock campaign by pointing out that something like this is not tolerated in your stadium," said Jungfer of the dpa.