Germans and the country's huge Turkish minority are to turn out in force for the European Championship semifinal match on Wednesday but police expect a carnival atmosphere instead of clashes.

Thousands of security forces have been deployed across the country to ensure that the mix of rival fans, beer and summer sunshine does not become too volatile.

In Berlin, home to 120 000 people of Turkish origin among a population of 3.4 million, 1500 police including enforcements from four other states will be on the streets, authorities said.

Although the country is awash in German and Turkish flags — and sometimes both from the same balcony or car — police said they expected little more than a few scuffles between Germans and Turkish immigrants.

"We have no indication that there will be trouble," a police spokesman told AFP.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble saw the match as a test of the peaceful, but sometimes tense, relations between Germans and Turks living in the country.

"Let not only the best team win on Wednesday but also German-Turkish friendship," he wrote in the Berlin tabloid B.Z.

In Munich, 300 uniformed officers will keep the revelry in check, a third of them outside the Olympic stadium where 30,000 people will watch the game via satellite from Basel.

Police said things were "relatively calm" in town but said they would keep a close eye on the hordes of fans.

"What we fear the most is if Germany lose and a few take out their frustration on the Turks," he said.

In the business capital Frankfurt, 8000 people are expected at Wedau Stadium to follow the match via satellite, watched over by 200 police.

Authorities in Hamburg and Cologne, which both have large Turkish minorities, would not comment on the deployment Wednesday but a police spokesman in Hamburg predicted "a peaceful and happy" night.

AFP

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