Fussball-WM Blog

Five hundred England "soccer supporters" have been detained in Stuttgart in the two days leading up to their side’s second-round match with Ecuador for mostly drunken and aggressive behaviour, police said today.

Riot police intervened, with some on horses, to separate the two sets of groups and held 378 England hooligans (and five to 10 German hools) on Saturday night after they clashed with German "fans" (after the Germans watched their side’s 2-0 second-round victory over Sweden on giant TV screens), throwing bottles, tables and chairs in a square in the city centre. On Friday, 122 Racists were held for aggressive behaviour. 375 of them have been released but they are banned from returning to the city centre. The police responded immediately, dealt with the situation and quickly had it under control. It came as German police launched an operation to protect peaceful England fans from possible attacks by home-grown hooligans as the knockout stage of the World Cup kicks off.

"I don’t consider these people to be English football supporters because they actually damage the reputation of the many thousands of real English supporters that will be here today," Stephen Thomas, the head of the British police team working in Germany, said on Sunday.  Banning orders issued before the tournament began prevented some 3,800 known trouble makers from travelling to Germany and Thomas said police would study the evidence and apply for banning orders for those held on Saturday if possible. Before last night’s violence, German authorities praised England’s fans for their boisterous but non-violent behaviour.

Siegfried Stumpf, chief of Stuttgart police, said he was aware that Germans had tried to cause trouble when England played in Cologne. "Our attention is focused on the Stuttgart scene, to make sure any incidents like in Cologne will not happen," he said.

fussballwmblog.de’s editor Norbert Ordyk expressed his optimism about activities against hooligansim and racism during the World Cup. "I believe the football against racism and violence, which takes a positive message from the top of the FIFA and German World Cup Organising Committee."

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"100 England fans arrested after night of street battles",
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"HERR THEY GO AGAIN. 122 racist England fans arrested as police break up violence on streets"