Police to seize passports from 33 football fans
AVON and Somerset Police plan to seize dozens of passports ahead of the European Football Championships.
Officers will take 33 passports from fans subject to football banning orders (FBO).
It’s hoped the move will limit antisocial or violent behaviour around the tournament.
Fans have until June 14 or 15 deadline to hand over their passports or an arrest warrant could be issued.
There are 42 people subject to FBOs in the Avon and Somerset Police area. Of these, 33 are passport holders and will be required to surrender them.
Passports will remain with police until after the last quarter-final match is played on Saturday, July 3.
Those that were involved in the disorder in Bristol during the World Cup 2018 and received FBOs also have conditions that prevent them from visiting certain areas in the hours before and after televised England matches.
There will be patrols in place during the tournament and specialist football officers will be working throughout the championship to “engage with” supporters.
Euro 2020 was due to take place last summer but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The tournament is being held across 12 host cities for the first time, rather than by a single or joint-host countries.
There will be matches across the continent, including in the UK at Glasgow’s Hampden Park and at London’s Wembley Stadium.
A force spokesperson said: “While some FBOs are issued for disorder at matches, we’d like to remind fans they can receive them for incidents committed away from stadiums.
“For example, anyone going to watch a match on a television at a public showing, such as a pub, who becomes embroiled in any form of antisocial or violent behaviour, could find themselves with a FBO. It also includes drink-driving or domestic abuse offences linked to football.”
The opening match of Euro 2020 will be held in Rome between Italy and Turkey on Friday, June 11.
England’s campaign will kick off in London against World Cup finalists Croatia two days later.
Fans will be allowed to attend matches in person during the tournament, but capacity numbers at venues will be capped due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Avon and Somerset Police said that forces across the country are seeing a “big increase” in flares and other pyrotechnics at football-related gatherings.
They reported that this has “on occasions” resulted in spectators receiving life-changing injuries from such devices.
They said: “We’d like to remind people the danger such items can pose and that they could be contravening the law by taking them to public arenas under Fireworks Regulations 2004.”
Chief Inspector Debbie PalmerLawrence said: “After a year of waiting for the tournament to take place, we hope it will be a successful one.
“We want fans to enjoy themselves but ask them to be mindful of their behaviour. We will not tolerate any football-related antisocial behaviour or violence and will deal robustly with such offenders.”