Baying for British blood – Russia’s brawling thugs
Football yobs clash despite threat to kick out their teams
VIOLENCE flared in Lille last night as russian hooligans attacked English and Welsh fans gathering for their Euro 2016 clash.
A group of russians wearing ‘Orel Butchers – Storm over Europe’ T-shirts attacked an outside bar where British supporters were drinking.
russia was yesterday warned it would be kicked out of the football competition if there is further crowd trouble in its remaining matches.
But witnesses last night claimed the men said ‘We are russians’ before challenging fans outside the Taverne Flamande.
French police were accused of standing by as the hooligans put gum shields in and donned masks before attacking supporters.
Wales and England fans retaliated by throwing chairs at the men – who were allowed to flee without being arrested.
England fan Mark Crowe, 25, said: ‘ Everyone was standing outside the bar having a good time, English and Welsh together. Then these guys walked up and started on us. They were russian and wearing masks. The police did nothing.
‘Admittedly the English threw a couple of chairs back at them, but if you are attacked you have to defend yourself.’
After the attack the British fans chanted: ‘F*** off russians, we’re England and Wales.’
The ‘Orel Butchers’ are a wellknown russian hooligan group, affiliated to Locomotiv Moscow.
russian fans wearing the same T- shirts were photographed attacking fans in Marseille.
Shocking video footage emerged yesterday showing a military-style attack by russian thugs on England fans in the city. The video, shot by a russian with a camera attached to his waist, showed a squad jogging like soldiers as they targeted English fans before their Euro 2016 opener on Saturday.
The footage includes the sickening moment a 51-year-old England fan was beaten by a group of russian thugs which left him in a coma. Andrew Bache, from Portsmouth, suffered brain injuries after being hit over the head with an iron bar.
Not a single russian fan was arrested for violence on Saturday, despite a second planned attack in the stadium when England fans were ambushed at the final whistle. Armed police eventually swooped on at least 50 suspected russian thugs yesterday. French police hauled them off a coach near Cannes after prosecutors had warned that 150 ‘hyper-violent’ russian hooligans were still at large, 29 thugs were subsequently deported.
Alexander Shprygin, the head of a russian supporters’ group, said the yobs were escorted to the airport following the raid.
He insisted they had done nothing wrong, adding: ‘The police are making up for their mistakes three days ago.’
up to 50,000 England fans are expected to stay in Lille, which is just 20 miles away from Lens where they will play Wales tomorrow. French authorities have pledged to increase security in Lens – where there is now an emergency alcohol ban in supermarkets – deploying 2,400 police and security guards as well as a riot squad. The violence came after uefa gave russia a suspended disqualification and £119,000 fine for racism and fireworks being set off at the game against England in Marseille. The warning only relates to incidents that happened inside the stadium.
Last night Home Secretary Theresa May said more British police who are trained to identify troublemakers had been deployed to France.
Greg Dyke, the FA chairman, has admitted having ‘serious concerns’ about England supporters being vulnerable to repeat attacks from armed gangs. In a strongly worded letter to uefa, he said there was an ‘unacceptable’ lack of segregation at Saturday’s game.
Yesterday the Prefect of Lille, Michel Lalande, confirmed a total ban on alcohol sales in supermarkets for three days from 6pm last night until 6am on Friday. He said: ‘It is a dark day tomorrow because there are 15,000 russians coming.’
‘They were wearing masks’