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England victory marred by violence
MUNICH, Germany (CNN) -- British and German football supporters brawled in the beer halls and streets of Munich as England upset Germany 5-1 on Saturday. German authorities had made at least 75 arrests by Saturday night as England notched its first win in Germany in more than three decades. Liverpool striker Michael Owen scored a hatrick to shock the Germans. About 10,000 British soccer fans descended on the city for the World Cup qualifying match, but only 6,000 had tickets. They were met by about 1,100 German police and border troops, aided by a small cadre of British police specialists. Munich police said they were also expecting 1,000 violent German fans to arrive for the match.
By 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), police had made the 40 arrests and taken at least 100 more people into protective custody -- not arresting them, but forcibly removing them from scenes of violence to prevent further incidents. British police known as "spotters" -- officers familiar with the most notorious English soccer hooligans -- were assisting German authorities. An undisclosed number of British plainclothes officers were in Germany, and the National Criminal Intelligence Service says it is the largest English police operation for a single England international match abroad. German authorities said they have a lot of experience with that type of situation, and they were confident they could keep things under control. But they expressed concern that many fans of both teams had been drinking since late morning. Friday night, about 100 England supporters threw bottles at German police outside a cafe near Munich's main railway station, but the officers did not react. The fans later dispersed, and Munich police detained two of them for unspecified offenses. The brawls and arrests followed clashes late Friday in Frankfurt, where 30 English and German fans were arrested after fights broke out around the city's railway station, a police spokesman said. Authorities banned alcohol around Munich's Olympic stadium for three hours before and three hours after the match, but people could drink as much as they wanted in the city. In England, police stopped more than 50 suspected troublemakers boarding flights to European cities close to Munich under the Football (Disorder) Act on Friday.
A makeshift weapon consisting of a razor blade embedded in a piece of wood, a lock-knife and drugs were confiscated from 25 suspected hooligans detained at the Channel Tunnel terminal at Folkestone and at Dover in Kent. Six were released and 19 were being dealt with at Folkestone magistrates court. A total of 21 suspected hooligans were detained by Essex Police at Stansted airport and the port of Harwich, and three suspected hooligans were stopped from flying to Germany by police at Manchester Airport. Another nine were stopped at Birmingham International Airport, all of them trying to board a flight to Prague in the Czech Republic. As part of the huge police anti-hooligan operation for the match, 537 England supporters -- most of whom have convictions for hooliganism -- received letters last week ordering them to hand in their passports. |
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