English and Russian football fans clashed with police as violence returned to the French port town of Marseille on Friday night.
Tear gas was deployed by officers trying to disperse the troublemakers but the ugly skirmishes continued as darkness fell.
In scenes reminiscent of the dark days of hooliganism, bare-chested England fans threw bottles at police dressed in full riot gear with the trouble following an incident packed Thursday night.
Fist fights broke out between English and French speaking men, and one man was thrown into the harbour after he was beaten to the ground. Police with helmets, batons and shields stood shoulder to shoulder along the cobbled street facing a line of England fans, some of whom threw bottles.
Russian fans also became involved in clashes with the English. The violence first broke out at around 18.20 French time outside the Queen Victoria pub in the Old Port district where England fans had been for most of the day.
.@pkelso reports from Marseille, where England fans have been clashing with French police ahead of #Euro2016 https://t.co/QqAljfmzkg
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 10, 2016
Fans sang songs about the IRA, German bombers being shot down and the national anthem.
Supporters are in Marseille ahead of England’s Euro 2016 game with Russia on Saturday night.
Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Federation which runs the fans embassy in Marseille, said he believed the locals turned up with the intention of provoking the English fans.
“There’s not huge numbers of England fans in town yet, probably the biggest congregation was outside this pub,” he said. “The French police were very relaxed, letting them get on with it.
“It was all fine until, our understanding is, a group of around 30 to 40 locals turned up, I think with the intention of provoking the England fans to see if they could get a rise out of them. In those circumstances it’s the police’s job to prevent a confrontation and they used French methods to do so, which we’re not particularly used to.
“They used tear gas, which is a little bit indiscriminate for my liking, but it did the job and the problems were over. There were a couple of arrests of English fans as they responded to that provocation.”
