Hajer M'tırı
June 11, 2016•Update: June 12, 2016
PARIS
Seven more individuals were arrested Friday after fresh clashes erupted for a second day between football fans and riot police in the southern city of Marseille.
Police said arrests were made after they clashed with the mostly English football fans at the Old Port area.
The clashes began at around 6 p.m. local time (1600GMT), when riot police repeatedly fired teargas into hundreds of fans to "separate English and Russian supporters groups,” police commissioner Laurent Nunez said in a statement.
English fans reportedly provoked police and targeted them with glass bottles as they shouted slogans such as “F... off Europe, we’re all voting out,” and “Sit down if you hate the French”.
An English supporter and a French man were also arrested by riot police Thursday after a brawl with locals.
The England-Russia match is scheduled for Saturday at 9 p.m. local time (1900GMT) at the Stade Velodrome.
To avoid further confrontations between the two teams’ supporters, Nunez said two separate access routes to the stadium have been set up in order to "prevent pubic disorder".
France’s sports minister, Patrick Kanner, said Saturday’s match has been classified as one of the Euro 2016 games most likely to lead to violence involving fans.
“This is one of the five risky matches of the tournament. British and Russians with the heat, that can be explosive,” Kanner, told i-Tele on Saturday.
About 1,000 police will be deployed in the Mediterranean city as up to 20,000 English and 12,000 Russian fans are expected at the game.
The Euro 2016 football championship runs from June 10 to July 10, in 10 cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne, and Toulouse. Tournament host France beat Romania on Friday in the opening match.
