FRANCE: MARSEILLE: WORLD CUP SOCCER FAN RIOTS UPDATE (6) скачать в хорошем качестве

FRANCE: MARSEILLE: WORLD CUP SOCCER FAN RIOTS UPDATE (6)

(15 Jun 1998) French/Nat Two English football fans have become the first supporters to be jailed for their involvement in riots which have plagued the World Cup for three consecutive days. Monday's swift court action followed another day of violent clashes and running battles between Tunisian and English hooligans and French police. At least a dozen people were arrested - several others were injured. The fresh fighting erupted as England and Tunisia kicked off in their debut match and followed a night of window-smashing violence in Marseille's Old Port area, which left 36 people in hospital - three of whom are recovering from serious injuries. As England and Tunisia battling it out on the field, their supporters clashed off the field. About a dozen people were arrested in rioting and violent street battles that spread through the Mediterranean port city before and after the match - which ended in a two-nil victory for the English. Inside the Velodrome stadium itself, all was calm during the match, the second to be played in Marseille but the first involving England and its often violent followers. The violence in the city started about the same time as England scored its first goal. The acrid smell of tear gas wafted through the stadium, about a mile from the beach. Windows were broken in some areas and two cars - one with a British license plate - were damaged. It was not immediately clear how many people were injured. Police had tried to place a lock on Marseille and restore calm earlier in the day. They brought in reinforcements, put a partial ban on alcohol and searched and escorted fans as they arrived for the match. But the tough crackdown had little effect. However, the French wasted no time in serving justice. Just hours after England's debut match, two English fans were jailed for three months, having been found guilty of criminal damage and inciting other fans to riot. The pair, both postmen from Liverpool, were also banned from France for a year. The French authorities have repeatedly said that British hooligans were largely to blame for the trouble. SOUNDBITE: (French) "The negative elements of which several hundred are British subjects, the famous hooligans, continue to create trouble in the town." SUPER CAPTION: Jean-Paul Proust, Prefect of Marseille During Monday's violence, hundreds of police, with riot gear, teargas and dogs, separated small groups of Britons from excited crowds of local Tunisians, who chanted and taunted. They were escorted onto waiting buses in a bid to disperse mass crowds. The English fought back when they could evade police lines. The latest riots outside the stadium itself followed a night of violence between drunken English hooligans and Tunisians, backed by gangs from north Marseille suburbs. The Sunday night clashes cut a path of destruction through downtown Marseille and left two people seriously injured - one with a slashed throat. On Sunday, police arrested 50 people in melees that left 37 people injured - most of them English. 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...