A German football club with a cult following will formally demand an explanation from the UK’s counterterrorism police as to how the club’s flag ended up on an anti-extremism briefing document alongside swastikas and other neo-Nazi symbols.



FC St. Pauli, who currently play in Germany’s second division, 2. Bundesliga, will officially ask how it was possible that its flag, which depicts a skull and crossbones on a black background, ended up on such a list.

The list is included in a Counter Terrorism Policing document produced to aid the police and partners as part of its training material for the anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent.

The document, which carries the Counter Terrorism Policing logo, includes an array of symbols associated with British nationalist groups, white supremacists and fascist groups, and includes SS Runes, the Celtic Cross and the KKK Blood Drop.

St Pauli's flag is listed under a section for "left wing and associated single issue symbols," next to squatters, anarchists and an anti-nuclear power group.

Last week, the club tweeted about its inclusion in the list when it was spotted by Welsh international James Lawrence, who plays for the club.