36 England and Russia fans arrested in Lille | VIDEO

At least 36 people have been arrested after trouble flared again at Euro 2016 on Wednesday following brawling between England and Russia fans in Lille city centre, in echoes of the violence that marred their opening weekend match in Marseille.

Hundreds of French riot police later charged at groups of England fans who continued to congregate after the early clashes as bottles were hurled. The trouble continued late into the night as police used teargas to attempt to disperse English, Welsh and French fans from the city’s main square outside the station.

A total of 16 people were hospitalised throughout the day, according to French authorities, amid chaotic scenes in the northern French city.

The fears of French authorities, who drafted in extra police and emergency services to swell their numbers to 4,000, were realised when skirmishes began near the city’s main train station following Russia’s match with Slovakia.

Uefa’s executive board has warned both England and Russia that they could be thrown out of the tournament if there are repeats of the violence in Marseille, where a small group of England fans clashed with police and locals before 150 highly organised Russians caused several serious injuries and left one fan in a critical condition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNYNbVZ2Z64

Wednesday’s clashes, which were quickly clamped down on by scores of military and plain clothes police who fired teargas to clear the streets, were the first serious incidents since thousands of England, Wales, Slovakia and Russia supporters flooded into the northern French city. England play Wales in the nearby city of Lens on Thursday, but ticketless fans had been advised to head for Lille because Lens has too few facilities to cope with large numbers.

A small group of England fans in their late teens said that their Russian counterparts had started the trouble by charging at a larger knot of around 200 England fans drinking outside Le Prize pub, 100 metres from the main square.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnoU5URlqBM

Hundreds of England fans had spent the day drinking outside bars near Lille’s domestic train station. For the most part it was good natured, involving little more than songs and impromptu games of football, but as the afternoon wore on the songs and chants became more specifically anti-Russian, especially with news of Russia’s loss to Slovakia.

“We’re England and Wales, fuck off Russia, we’re England and Wales!” went one chant, along with another of “Russia’s going home”. As Russia fans began arriving in the centre of Lille after the game, they mainly hung back and watched the songs, some smiling, though one could be seen carefully folding a large Russia flag to put away in a pocket.

As more Russia fans arrived, however, the chants from their English and Welsh counterparts got louder and were accompanied by finger pointing and some evident tension.

A loud bang from a flare or firework appeared to be the signal for a small group of Russians to charge at England fans, some of whom had mounted a parked car. England and Wales fans then chased the Russians through the streets, with large numbers of police in hot pursuit.

The opposing sets of fans scattered through the back streets of Lille’s old city, pursued by CRS riot police. In chaotic scenes there were a few skirmishes, but some fans were clearly trying to escape. One father in an England shirt was seen leading away his two young sons, one of them aged about six who was weeping in his arms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSSDggttB8Y

The skirmishes soon died down and police used teargas to break up one big group on a street dotted with cafes and apartment buildings. A French family was seen coughing and wiping their eyes as they struggled with the lock to their apartment block.

French police used CS gas to disperse England and Wales fans again later in the evening. This time there was no violence or even any Russian supporters visible, just a roaming group of singing, drunk young men, mainly English.

They were gathered outside a bar near Lille’s station before police seemed to send them off on a march towards the official fan zone. But as they got near the group turned back and walked into Lille centre again. Here police unleashed some gas, seemingly to stop the group heading en masse into the narrow streets of the old town.

The incidents had echoes of a smaller scale episode on Tuesday afternoon, when a small number of Russians charged at England fans singing anti-Russia songs, leading to two arrests. There were further small scale brawls overnight.