Uefa opens case against Russia but not England after Euro 2016 fan violence• Uefa express ‘utter disgust’ but have not opened case against the English FA
• Police say 35 people were wounded in clashes before and after Euro 2016 game
Uefa has expressed its “utter disgust” and opened disciplinary proceedings against Russia for crowd disturbances, racist behaviour by fans and fireworks being set off during the European Championship game against England on Saturday. Uefa has not opened any case against the English Football Association.
The control, ethics and disciplinary bodies of Uefa will judge the Russia case on Tuesday ahead of their second Euro 2016 Group B match against Slovakia on Wednesday.
Uefa says it will implement “corrective measures” to strengthen security at European Championship stadiums after “segregation issues” at the Stade Velodrome, where the game finished 1-1.
Regional police chief Laurent Nunez said most of the injuries in Marseille were minor but that four were serious and that one of them – an England supporter – was in a serious but stable condition.
Uefa says it “acknowledges that there were segregation issues at Stade Velodrome and will implement corrective measures to strengthen the deployment of security personnel at stadiums, in close collaboration with local authorities.”
In its statement, Uefa said it also “expresses its utter disgust for the violent clashes that occurred in the city centre of Marseille, and its serious concern for the incidents at the end of the match inside Stade Velodrome. This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and has no place in football.”
Uefa says “a decision on the sanctions to be imposed will be made within the next few days, once the Russian Football Union has been able to submit written statements and evidence.”
French police have said 35 people were wounded in clashes that erupted between England and Russia football supporters before and after the match in Marseille. Fighting broke out all day in the port city of Marseille, where Russia and England fans clashed with each other and police before and after the teams’ opening fixture of the tournament at the Stade Velodrome.
Nunez said 15 people have been arrested, seven on Saturday and eight more Sunday. French authorities have been on the defensive after media broadcast live scenes of brutal fighting at the Old Port in Marseille and surrounding side streets ahead of Saturday’s game.
Russia’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, has backed Uefa’s decision to take action against the Russian Football Union. “It’s the right thing, there were flares, there was a flare gun, there had been clashes in the stands, it’s necessary to sort all of this out,” said Mutko, speaking to the R-Sport news agency. “We will prepare properly, we will present our position... the fans were rooting greatly, but there are people who do not come for the football.” The former Fifa vice-president, Vyacheslav Koloskov, has said the RFU can expect to receive a “maximum fine” for their supporters behaviour.
Fan violence also erupted in Nice, where French hooligans fought with fans from Northern Ireland and Poland. Nunez said at least 44 people were wounded in the French cities of Nice and Marseille. Northern Ireland take on Poland in Nice on Sunday.
French police used teargas and a water cannon in an attempt to assume control of the fighting. Speaking to Europe 1 radio, French socialist party leader Jean-Christophe Cambadélis defended his country’s law enforcement, blaming the violence on “drunken cretins.” Nunez said the level of policing was “absolutely proportional” to the threat faced.
The France coach, Didier Deschamps, has condemned the violence in Marseille. “It’s sad to see this,” Deschamps said on the television channel TF1. “It sends chills down your spine. These people are not fans. They use football to do acts of barbarism, violence.”
German police have stopped 18 hooligans near Trier in western Germany, who were apparently heading for Germany’s opening European Championship match in Lille. Germany’s top security official says French authorities were given details of 2,500 known German hooligans ahead of Euro 2016.
“We set up an exchange of information with France on German hooligans who are known to police and violent, and gave them the names and data of about 2,500 people,” said the French interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. De Maizière says French authorities can work with that information during border controls, where they are being supported by German officers. World champions Germany begin the tournament against Ukraine on Sunday evening.
Guardian
