Arrests after night of trouble in Lille
By Staff Reporter
French police arrested 36 people last night after violence erupted in Lille – ahead of England’s match with Wales later.
Flares and bangers were lit as officers charged at chanting fans spraying tear gas – in a bid to disperse the crowds.
Police used pepper spray against an England fan who ran towards them, as fights appeared to break out among Three Lions supporters.
Authorities said 16 people have been treated in hospital but gave no details about their injuries.
The two home nations will face each other at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in the nearby city of Lens at 2pm UK time.
Many fans are staying in the much larger city of Lille and despite bars being shut, some supporters defied a ban on drinking in the street the evening before the match.
Some were seen climbing road signs and while English police - sent out to help with the security operation - urged fans to behave, French police charged at them repeatedly.
Late in the evening, two groups of about 250 English fans each merged just as thousands of French fans were streaming out of the fan zone where they had been watching France beat Albania.
Several hundred riot police formed a human barrier between the two groups.
Some fireworks were fired from the French side and a few bottles were thrown from the English side.
The police then charged in the direction of the English, spraying tear gas and causing a stampede, with people sprinting into side streets.
Supporters of Slovakia and Russia were also in the city after their game in the city on Wednesday. Earlier in the evening, a small group of people wearing Russian Ultra T-shirts threw a flare at a large group of England fans who then surged towards them.
The Russians left the scene and the remaining British fans were tear gassed, prompting them to hold their shirts over their mouths as they left the scene rubbing their eyes and spitting.
In footage posted online by ex-England footballer Stan Collymore, one man wearing a green hat was seen smashing wing mirrors off cars parked on the street.
Collymore said: Somebody threw a, not a grenade, something that went bang, towards some England fans and the England fans have just run.''
He later pointed to a man who was pinned down in the road by police, and said: You were throwing bottles. Yes.''
French authorities said the arrests on Wednesday included six Russians involved in violence last Saturday in Marseille.
Another five people were arrested for public drunkenness on a train from London that was stopped before it got to Lille and then allowed to continue.
Away from the main square a group of England fans, who were comparatively quiet, were surrounded by police as they drank outside Cafe Oz. The officers parked more than 10 vans and a police bus in the square around them.
A large number of fans congregated outside one of the bars near the Lille Flandres station, with dozens of police officers carrying riot shields standing guard.
The crowd chanted God Save The Queen and England Til I Die, as well as singing Where were you in Marseille?'' towards the assembled police.
Elsewhere a group of England fans outside the railway station in Lille were penned in by police when one of them lit a flare and began to wave it as they chanted.