Homegrown hooligans are most numerous in initial scuffle

You never pat yourself on the back until the whole thing is over. This is what police keep telling me. Terrain is the enemy, and you don't know what's going to happen until you're clear. Germany beating Poland proved a bit too national for our host country, and as a result over 400 people spent the night in jail. From the Deutsche Welle report:

News agency Reuters reported that the atmosphere in Dortmund was largely friendly and peaceful to start with, but took on a menacing note as a group of German skinheads drinking in the city center began to behave threateningly.

"What surprised us was the sheer number of fans who showed themselves ready to turn aggressive," said Schulze. He added that not all the aggressive fans were known hooligans, but rather that vast quantities of alcohol had played a major role in the escalation of violence. "We had hooligans here but they did not attack each other. Rather we had extremely drunk fans who set on police and then on each other."

The revelation here is that you don't have to be a known hooligan to escalate to violence. You just have to be drunk and willing. Wow, really? But I thought the guy who wrote his thesis on mob mentality blah blah blah. When are people gonna realize?

As for us in Berlin, we had our share of fireworks and flagships proceeding down Sonnenallee, but no one felt particularly threatened. We'll probably have to wait for the second round for a climate as incendiary as last night's. Or the final?