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Violence avoided in Lens
Heavy police presence keeps altercations to a minimum
Posted: Saturday June 27, 1998 09:56 AM
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There were few incidents in Lens with French police out in full force (AP) |
LENS, France (AP) --
"Is there a war in France?" Matthew, a young English fan asked early
Saturday, as rows of riot police armed with rubber bullets and tear gas
watched the crowds after a high-risk World Cup match attended by Prince
Charles. "It really wasn't worth the trouble to bring all that out,"
he said. "The only problems you risk having are drunken guys angry about
getting that kind of police reception." But after repeated violence
since the five-week soccer championship began June 10, police took no
chances in this town on the Belgian border. It was feared Friday's England-Colombia match
would draw hooligans from England and competing toughs from Germany who
shook Lens last Sunday. As a result, heavy police presence, a strict
alcohol ban and tougher border checks that turned away suspected hooligans
appeared to do the trick. England's 2-1 victory, and the presence of
royalty, likely had a calming effect as well. Shops in Lens closed
early, giant outdoor World Cup screens were taken down and bars served
non-alcoholic drinks as about 2,000 police stood ready as surveillance
helicopters hovered overhead. The tactics were likely to be repeated
before Tuesday night's match between England and Argentina in
St. Etienne, in east-central France near Lyon. The two countries fought a
war over the Falkland Islands in 1982. "Everything will be done to
ensure peace for the spectators," Sepp Blatter, head of the international
soccer federation FIFA, said Saturday. He said English and Argentine police
were working with French authorities, who so far "have not identified one
hooligan among the Argentines." Scattered clashes broke out in Lens
Friday afternoon between police and English fans, many of them already
drunk after arriving by train from nearby Lille, where no alcohol
restrictions were imposed. May brought beer with them that police
confiscated. In nearby Lille, meanwhile, Lens-bound English fans
clashed with local North African French youths. Police boosted their forces
there to face crowds after the match. Police arrested about 50 fans
in Lens and a dozen people in Lille, half of those local youths, officials
said. Britain's Foreign office reported Saturday that a total of 74 English
nationals were detained in northern France on Friday. About 100
people, mostly drunken English soccer fans en route to the match, were
arrested in clashes overnight Thursday in northern France and neighboring
Belgium,
police said. Many suspect English nationals never made it to Lens.
French authorities reported turning away 400 of them who arrived Friday at
Calais, the Lille airport and train station,and at the Belgian border.
Nevertheless, the high number of drunken English fans in this town of
35,000 kept tensions high ahead of the evening match. Prince Charles and
his son, Prince Harry, were in a VIP box at the heavily guarded stadium
packed with 41,000 fans. After the match, sending England to the
round before the quarterfinals, fans chanting "England, England" danced in
the streets. No clashes were reported. It was strikingly different
scene from Lens last Sunday, when rioting by German thugs left a French
policman in a coma. The newspaper Le Monde on Thursday cited
an intelligence memo as saying German extremists planned to travel to Lens
"to combat the English enemy and try to gain the title of `best hooligans
of Europe.'" But the prediction didn't materialize. German
authorities had stepped up border checks of Fance-bound travelers, turning
back a number of suspected hooligans. Clashes outside several of the
World Cup's 10 stadium across France have left more than 100 injured.
Authorities have detained about 600 people and deported a number of English
and German hooligans.
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