FRANCE: MARSEILLE: WORLD CUP SOCCER FAN RIOTS CONTINUE скачать в хорошем качестве

FRANCE: MARSEILLE: WORLD CUP SOCCER FAN RIOTS CONTINUE

(15 Jun 1998) English/Nat More violence erupted on Monday afternoon in Marseille, as both England and Tunisia prepared to open their world cup campaigns. Running battles between rival fans outside the Marseille football stadium continued ahead of the kick off. And, despite a massive police operation, Tunisian and English fans were not fully segregated within the Marseille stadium. Police put a lock on Marseille on Monday, bringing in reinforcements, banning alcohol sales, and searching and escorting arriving English soccer fans to try to thwart more of the violence that seriously injured two people. Less than two hours before the England-Tunisia World Cup match, police, turning tough, swung their sticks at two English fans to head off a new melee outside the stadium. Police intervened after rocks and bottles flew through a crowd of people outside the stadium on the Prado, the wide boulevard in downtown Marseille. It was a taste of the clashes that erupted here Sunday night as England and Tunisia supporters heaved bottles, smashed windows and shouted insults. Police arrested 50 people in the melee that left 37 people injured, local officials said. Among the seriously injured was a young English fan slashed in the throat. Of the injured and arrested, 30 were British. Tunisians and French also were injured and arrested. Marseille Police Chief Michel Sappin said police ranks were being reinforced in the city centre and around the stadium. Lines of riot police ready to sweep in if needed could be seen strategically placed outside Marseille. Authorities had already planned to deploy a total of 1,600 uniformed or plainclothes city police, 200 gendarmes and about 100 elite C-R-S national police for the match, scheduled for 1230 G-M-T. The prefect of the region, Jean-Paul Proust, said that eight people were being brought before a Marseille court today in an example of the swift justice aimed at curbing World Cup violence. Proust banned the sale of alcohol in the city starting at about the time the game ends, and ordered all bars closed by 11 p-m local time. Police searched luggage of droves of English fans arriving by train and were escorting them to their hotels. They were being asked to stay out of the city centre. Outside the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, fans were thoroughly searched but, once inside, they were not fully segregated, raising the possibility of further trouble. Fans without bona fide tickets were turned away. Earlier, buses had been laid on for fans without tickets to take them to nearby Prado beach where giant video screens had been erected. Here too there was little segregation, but the atmosphere was, at the outset, trouble free. Sappin, the police chief, said that scheduling the English-Tunisia match for Monday was "an error" because it gave hooligans a chance to drink throughout the weekend. FIFA said the schedule was long set and would not be changed. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...