Flare incident at Bundesliga match renews security debate in Germany

After hooligans forced a Bundesliga game to be delayed by throwing lit flares at the weekend, Germany coach Joachim Loew is leading the call for tighter security measures in stadiums.

Last Saturday, hooligans in the Eintracht Frankfurt fan block forced their team's 3-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen to be delayed by six minutes after lighting flares and setting off fireworks.

Referee Wolfgang Stark marched both teams off the pitch amid safety concerns for players after the pyrotechnics started landing on a corner of the pitch.

"It is absolutely unacceptable when a game needs to be interrupted like that," said Loew, who was in the stadium. "When missiles are thrown thereby endangering other spectators, it's extremely important to take action against these people with all the power available."

After clubs in Germany's top two leagues voted on December 12 to adopt controversial new security regulations, outlined by the German Football League (DFL), safety at football grounds remains a hot topic here.

A contentious point of the new regulations involves the clubs' right to demand full body searches for any fans suspected of carrying fireworks.