Borussia Dortmund fans protested their club's controversial sponsorship deal with an arms manufacturer during the team's Bundesliga opener on Saturday. (More Football News)
The second half of Dortmund's 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt started against a backdrop of banners criticizing Dortmund's three-year sponsorship deal with DĂŒsseldorf-based Rheinmetall 바카라 the world's largest maker of artillery ammunition.
바카라Not for (expletive) armaments industry,바카라 read one sign under a giant banner that simply cursed the Rheinmetall deal with an expletive. 바카라Money first, values second,바카라 read more banners, while another said, 바카라Our values rolled over by a tank."
바카라Borussia connects, Rheinmetall kills,바카라 said another couple of banners.
The fans were also noticeably quieter than usual when the second half began, withholding their support for several minutes before eventually resuming. More than 81,000 supporters attended the match at Dortmund's Westfalenstadion.
Campaigners set up a dummy tank outside the stadium before the game, when an activist wore a mask with the face of Rheinmetall's CEO, Armin Papperger, while holding a red card.
On Wednesday, supporter association SĂŒdtribĂŒne Dortmund had signaled the intent of more than 90 fan groups to make their opposition to the deal clear at the start of the second half of Saturday's game. The association encouraged fans to bring placards and banners criticizing the deal.
The association also criticized the timing of Dortmund's announcement of the deal 바카라 in May, three days before the team lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League final 바카라 saying the news came as a 바카라bombshell.바카라
Rheinmetall expects to make record group sales of around 10 billion euros ($11.1 billion) this year.
In February, it announced the construction of a new factory at its existing site in Unterluess in northern Germany, with annual production capacity for 200,000 artillery shells, 1,900 tons of explosives, and possibly rocket engines and warheads.
Founded in 1889 as 바카라Rheinische Metallwaaren- und Maschinenfabrik Actiengesellschaft,바카라 the company was one of Germany's biggest armaments manufacturers during both World Wars. It made use of forced labor during World War II.
