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Russian fans jailed over Marseille violence

Police used tear gas to disperse crowds after violence erupted in Marseille
Police used tear gas to disperse crowds after violence erupted in Marseille

Three Russian fans have been jailed for one year, 18 months and two years respectively by a Marseille court for planning acts intended to harm people and destroy property.

That brought the total of those handed jail sentences for Marseille Euro 2016 fan violence to 12 so far, prosecutor Brice Robin told a news conference.

Another seven were banned from entering stadiums and four are yet to be judged for theft with violence, Mr Robin said.

"This is a strong message to all those troublemakers who confuse sports with violence and whose behaviour is completely unacceptable and has led to two English fans being seriously injured," Mr Robin said.

Much of the violence was due to Russian fans, Mr Robin said, adding that some of them belonged to "Orel Butchers" Lokomotiv Moscow supporters' group and others to Spartak Moscow's "Gladiators" group.

"These people claimed belonging to a 'Tour de France of violence'" Mr Robin said.

Seven Russian soccer fans returning to Moscow from the European Championship beat up a small group of Spanish tourists in Cologne, leaving two people seriously injured, German media reported.

Police detained six of the seven Russian fans, Focus Online and Bild said.   

The head of a Russian soccer supporters' association, Alexander Shprygin, is among 20 Russian fans who will be expelled from France in the coming days after violence flared at their Euro 2016 match against England, a police source has said.

The 20 are from a group of 43 detained by police in the Marseille region earlier this week.

Meanwhile, French police arrested 36 people after violence erupted in the streets of Lille ahead of England's match with Wales.

Flares and bangers were lit as officers charged at chanting fans, spraying tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowds.

Police also used pepper spray against an England fan who ran towards them, as fights appeared to break out among England supporters.

Authorities said 16 people have been treated in hospital but gave no details about their injuries.

England and Wales will face each other at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in the nearby city of Lens at 2pm.

Many fans are staying in the much larger city of Lille and despite bars being shut, some supporters defied a ban on drinking in the street the evening before the match.

Some were seen climbing road signs and while English police - sent out to help with the security operation - urged fans to behave, French police charged at them repeatedly.

Late in the evening, two groups of about 250 English fans each merged just as thousands of French fans were streaming out of the fan zone where they had been watching France beat Albania.

Several hundred riot police formed a human barrier between the two groups. Some fireworks were fired from the French side and a few bottles were thrown from the English side.

The police then charged in the direction of the English, spraying tear gas and causing a stampede, with people sprinting into side streets.

Supporters of Slovakia and Russia were also in the city after their game in the city yesterday afternoon.

Earlier in the evening, a small group of people wearing Russian Ultra T-shirts threw a flare at a large group of England fans who then surged towards them.

The Russians left the scene and the remaining British fans were tear gassed, prompting them to hold their shirts over their mouths as they left the scene rubbing their eyes and spitting.

In footage posted online by ex-England footballer Stan Collymore, one man wearing a green hat was seen smashing wing mirrors off cars parked on the street.

Collymore later pointed to a man who was pinned down in the road by police, and said: "You were throwing bottles. Yes."

French authorities said the arrests included six Russians involved in violence last Saturday in Marseille.

Another five people were arrested for public drunkenness on a train from London that was stopped before it got to Lille and then allowed to continue.

Away from the main square a group of England fans, who were comparatively quiet, were surrounded by police as they drank outside Cafe Oz. The officers parked more than ten vans and a police bus in the square around them.

A large number of fans congregated outside one of the bars near the Lille Flandres station, with dozens of police officers carrying riot shields standing guard.

The crowd chanted God Save The Queen and England Til I Die, as well as singing "Where were you in Marseille?" towards the assembled police.

Elsewhere a group of England fans outside the railway station in Lille were penned in by police when one of them lit a flare and began to wave it as they chanted.