"I have never seen so much violence"

Two days after the European Football Championship in France, you can confidently say that it will be remembered for a long time, if not by sporting results and a beautiful game, then near -football violence. On Saturday, several hundred football fans from Russia and England turned the streets of Marcel into the arena of fierce battles. Personnel from the old port, strewn with garbage and broken glass, overshadowed the images of sports experts and commentators. The match between the English and Russian team, of course, remained the central event of the day. But with no less interest, enthusiasm, misunderstanding or a sense of shame, everyone watched the numerous skirmishes of hooligans, who from all over Europe gathered in France, which had not yet been frozen from terrorist attacks.

The four fans of the England team were in intensive care after yesterday's clashes in Marseille. One of them, as the French media writes, is “between life and death”, he had a cardiac arrest. Three more are in serious condition. According to official figures, 38 people were injured in total, including three police officers. How many fans with bruises, fractures and cuts did not turn to doctors, it is impossible to calculate.

English, Russian and French fans played cats in the streets and lanes around the old port throughout the day. To the accompaniment of beating glass, the English fans sang their traditional “visiting” song about German bombers, Russian fans - “Katyusha”. When it came to a fight, there were bar chairs, stones, sometimes knives, but most often beer bottles. It is amazing that the local authorities did not bother with the sale of alcoholic beverages in glass containers on the day of the match. Moreover, the leadership of the French police in combating football hooliganism ( DNLH ) was the main reason for the clashes by excessive drunkenness.

The first skirmishes in Marseille began late in the evening of June 9. Then the English and French fans (from the local Olympic) found out relations. The next evening, Russian ultras was allowed to know about themselves. But all these small brawls were only a warming in front of the main battle, which occurred in the old port and its environs. In other parts of the city, the situation was more peaceful. English and Russian fans on Prado beaches were cut off from each other and calmly enjoyed good weather, food and drinks.

Yesterday's actions of the French police and riot police ( Riot Police ) received an ambiguous assessment. The Western press mainly criticizes law enforcement agencies for unreasonable cruelty, which even more redeemed fans. The Sport Express Spots Dmitry Zelenov writes that “the police as a whole worked softly” and retreated to their original positions as soon as she dispersed the crowd.

All eyewitnesses with whom Polit.ru managed to talk that the police acted extremely indecisively and did nothing to divide the English and Russian fans either on the streets or in the stadium. One of the eyewitnesses said that from 6 o’clock in the evening, the old Port of Marseille turned into a “ring for battles without rules”, in which people who do not crawl out of the sports hall, without analysis, beat both children and 50-year-old peaceful fans. “I have never seen so much violence,” he summed up.

One Russian fan, who was detained during the riots, is now in the face of a prison term, TASS reports with reference to the Russian Consulate General in Marseille. He is suspected of applying bodily harm with serious consequences. Earlier, President of the All-Russian Association of Fans (VOB) Alexander Shoplygin informed the R-Sport agency that a criminal case had set up on one of the Russian fans. According to Shoplin, they are trying to associate the detainee with the beating of an English fan, who is now in critical condition.

Violence was condemned in UEFA, but they said that they would take measures against the Russian football union if the clashes continue in the stadium. So it happened. After the match, the group of Russian fans broke through the steward’s cordon and attacked the British, who rushed at the scatter. The brawls in the stands did not last long, the security service managed to separate the fighters. There was no buffer zone between English and Russian fans at the stadium.

The tricks of Russian fans in the stands have repeatedly led to disciplinary sanctions. The latter case against the RFU was opened in March 2015 after the Russian fans used pyrotechnics and threw foreign objects on the field during the match with the Montenegro national team. The RFU was fined 25 thousand euros. How the trial will end this time is unknown. It is expected that the Control and Disciplinary Committee of the Union of European Football Associations today will consider the behavior of Russian fans. However, the press has already become demands to deprive Russia of the right to hold the 2018 World Cup.

RFU President Vitaliy Mutko is sure that for the incident in the stands of the Marseille Stadium "Bicycle Drill" the worst that the union is waiting is a fine. “Fans? Everything will be fine. What threatens? Yes, nothing. Everything will be fine, ”Mutko quotes SE. At the same time, the President of the RFU criticized the organization of the match and security measures. He also drew attention to the fact that the fans of both countries were not divorced on the sectors of the stadium. “There is no net, nothing, such things must be understood,” he said.

Whether any measures will be applied by Russian law enforcement agencies to fans who participated in the riots is unknown. There have been no comments on this topic yet. The British police said that together with colleagues from France, incidents in Marseille were already dismantling. In total, about 20 thousand English fans arrived at the World Cup in France.

Today, the geography of riots for Euro 2016 can expand. Russian fans went to Nice to measure their strength with their well -known brutality Poles, who had already managed to fight with the North Irish fans at night. It is expected that the English ultras will also arrive in the Mediterranean city. The match of Russia with Slovakia on Wednesday, June 15, apparently, will also be accompanied by a tense situation on Lill's streets.

By the way, Russia played with England - 1: 1.