(Vatican Radio) Europe's governing football body has threatened to disqualify England and Russia from the European Football Championships, also known as soccer, if there is any further violence by fans, in which several people were injured and detained. UEFA also announced disciplinary proceedings against Russia after Russian and English football fans clashed in southern French city of Marseille. Moscow has reacted with mixed feelings, following the violence, which overshadowed the Euro 2016 event. Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: Video footage showed how the Stade Velodrome stadium in the french city of Marseille turned into a warzone. Initially flares were let off by Russian fans near the end of the game. After England and Russia tied each other 1-1, Russian fans cold be seen rushing towards England football supporter, breaking through security barriers meant to separate the rivals. Witnesses said Russia supporters kicked and punched fleeing England fans, who w...
(Vatican Radio) Europe's governing football body has threatened to disqualify England and Russia from the European Football Championships, also known as soccer, if there is any further violence by fans, in which several people were injured and detained. UEFA also announced disciplinary proceedings against Russia after Russian and English football fans clashed in southern French city of Marseille. Moscow has reacted with mixed feelings, following the violence, which overshadowed the Euro 2016 event.
Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:
Video footage showed how the Stade Velodrome stadium in the french city of Marseille turned into a warzone. Initially flares were let off by Russian fans near the end of the game. After England and Russia tied each other 1-1, Russian fans cold be seen rushing towards England football supporter, breaking through security barriers meant to separate the rivals.
Witnesses said Russia supporters kicked and punched fleeing England fans, who were forced to clamber over fencing to escape. "As soon as they
spot their goal, they started to invade the England fans in the corner, ofcourse the English supporters ran and they had no where to go," an England
fan said. "I saw a bunch of Russian fans...and all English fans were running off and [climbing] over the fence," a boy added.
And there were clashes outside the stadium with English and Russian fans throwing fire works and objects at each other in the streets of Marseille.
Europe's main football body UEFA has now threatened to disqualify England and Russia from Euro 2016 if there is any further violence by fans.
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS
It also has begun disciplinary proceedings against Russia - but not England - after what it called "totally unacceptable" scenes at Saturday's
England-Russia game.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said in a statement that with UEFA's decision to launch proceedings against the Russian Football Union
for crowd disturbances and conceded that the governing body was likely to impose a fine. However he also blamed the match organizers for what he
said was failing to separate supporters.
Elsewhere, the southern French city of Nice was rocked by clashes between fans from Northern Ireland and locals.That violence reportedly also included clashes between fans and riot police. At least 44 people were injured in clashes in both Marseille and Nice.
The violence, which raised questions about security, couldn't have come at a worse moment for France. Thousands of troops and police already deal with terror threats.
Besides, the country is facing strikes over labor reforms, and authorities struggle to cope with the aftermath of recent deadly flooding.
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