BATTLE OF MARSEILLES
England fans revert to type before clash with Russia
ENGLAND fans were tear-gassed by French police for a third day in a row after being attacked by Russian hooligans as chaos broke out in Marseilles’ Old Port for three hours.
Last night two England fans were in a critical condition in hospital, including a 51-year-old attacked by a group of Russian fans.
He appeared to have been repeatedly kicked in the head. Six other people were described as ‘seriously injured’ with dozens of others, mainly English fans, also treated for wounds.
Matthieu Duroselle, spokesman for Marseilles Police Department, said: ‘There is one English fan that has been badly injured.
‘His heart stopped but it was restarted by a police officer who provided heart massage at the scene.’
Also in the Timone hospital was a ‘young man’ from England who had been ‘slashed across the face’ by Russian thugs.
Mr Duroselle added that the rioting involved ‘English, Russian and a few French fans’.
The scenes were reminiscent of France ’98 when England fans clashed with Tunisians and police in the same area, the Old Port.
Carnage reigned when England fans fought back against the Russians and the armoured police who had steadily grown in numbers throughout the day drew batons and fired tear gas at the brawlers, attempting to drive them up two nearby alleyways.
There was an initial stand-off between police and England fans for about 20 minutes as more tear gas was fired and glass bottles hurled back in the other direction. But when this was dissipating, spats erupted continuously for several hours as a group of Russians chased the English around the Old Port and attacked them.
Several England supporters were left covered in blood from wounds. Sportsmail witnessed one being hit on the head with a flying bottle and knocked unconscious. The man, in his 40s, was pulled up by friends but was left swaying as blood poured from his head.
Another local man carrying a bag of shopping put his hands in the air when tear gas was fired into a group of people nearby but was brutally knocked out by a punch.
Footage also emerged online of a man striking another over the head with a chair as he stood half-way down a set of stairs.
Chairs and bottles were launched between the rival groups as the violence escalated. Women and children were among the crowds caught up in the melee. At one stage, a group of Russian fans could be heard chanting as they hurled bottles at the English.
On several occasions hundreds of fans, locals and tourists were forced to flee from tear gas and fighting. Police tried to force the crowds back using muffled attack dogs. A water cannon eventually arrived along with streams of police cars and vans as the violence continued. The cannon was eventually used late afternoon as more fighting broke out.
A helicopter hovered overhead and about 30 armed police patrolled the streets near the main area.
Earlier in the day, a few thousand England supporters enjoyed the build-up to their Euro 2016 opening match against Russia in bars and pubs along the Quai de Rive Neuve.
Crowds swelled from hundreds to thousands drinking from the morning until mid-afternoon when it is believed a group of Russians — some with knives — rushed at the largest contingent of England fans, congregating outside Bar Tabac and L’Entrecote, at about 4.10pm.
What started as seven police vans — with officers handing out baguettes to each other at midday — turned into 14 and eventually more than 20 stretched from one end of the port to the other.
It was the third day of violence involving England supporters. While the party atmosphere enveloped Paris for the opening ceremony and game on Friday night and the Welsh have been praised by local police for their behaviour, England fans have clashed with Marseilles locals, French police and their Russian rivals.
The police have been criticised for their heavy-handed tactics in dealing with the outbreaks. One eyewitness told Sportsmail that they saw two French police laughing to each other after firing tear gas into a small alleyway as trouble erupted on Friday evening.
This continued again on Saturday in the worst outbreak of them all, instigated by Russians. When the French police intervened aggressively again, English supporters were involved in scraps with the two groups.
Several were arrested and the tense atmosphere finally settled down at about 7.30pm as fans began to head towards the Stade Velodrome for the match. Glass and broken bottles were strewn everywhere in the aftermath and local shop keepers, who had shut down their stores and restaurants for the duration, started to clean up.
UEFA last night issued a statement saying: ‘People engaging in such violent acts have no place in football.’ It added that it can only take disciplinary action against countries whose fans are involved in incidents ‘within the stadium perimeter’.