England fans have reportedly been involved in ugly scenes in Germany in the hours leading up the the Three Lions’ opening group stage game against Serbia in Group C of Euro 2024.
The game is set to kick off at 8pm UK time, with Germany an hour ahead, with 20,000 ticketed England fans in Gelsenkirchen for the occasion and more than half as many again turning up despite not having tickets.
The Guardian report that hooligans – believed to be England supporters – launched an attack on a bar hosting a group of several dozen Serbia supporters around 3:30pm German time in central Gelsenkirchen, with objects thrown including chairs and bottles. The Mirror add that Serbian fans fought back.
Euro 2024: Stadiums
German police intervene after hooliganism at Euro 2024
German police wearing riot gear quickly arrived in vans and chased the instigators away – perhaps tipped off by the undercover trouble-spotters stationed around each of the host towns.
At least one England fan has been reported to have injured in the violence and was treated for a heavily-bleeding head wound, alongside a local police officer.
The bar was then sealed off by police, but no arrests have yet been reported. The incident was reportedly over quickly.
Elsewhere earlier in the day, in Hamburg, German police had shot a man in the leg after he threatened the police with an ‘axe-like object’ and ‘Molotov cocktail’ – a fuel-filled explosive bottle – prior to the Netherland’s victory over Poland. Nobody else was injured in the incident, which took place close by to a group of Dutch supporters in town for the game.
The police are so far yet to determine whether those fans were being targeted or whether the culprit’s motives were in any way football-related.
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