Tear gas has been used against football fans in Lille amid reports of renewed clashes at the Euro 2016 tournament.
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Speaking to the Russian parliament, Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov said: “It was an absolutely unacceptable incident when a bus with more than 40 Russian fans was stopped by police”. Police used tear gas again against a small crowd of rowdy England fans in central Lille.
Flares and bangers were lit as officers charged at chanting fans, spraying tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowds.
As they did, chants and songs from England fans became louder.
Earlier, relations had been good natured between Russian and Slovakian fans at the stadium.
Fans from England, Wales, Slovakia and Russian Federation have been gathering in the city for Group B matches between the countries.
“I’m sure I can achieve more in my career but we’ll see where my steps take me”, he said.
Despite bars being shut as a precaution and a ban on drinking in the street, some football supporters were seen consuming alcohol.
“There’s no strategy. They seem to have no strategy”, one English police liaison officer with the fans could be heard saying into a phone.
That trouble followed supporters into the stadium itself as thousands of Russian fans attacked near-by England fans inside the ground.
Leonid Slutsky’s team now have just one point from two games after two spectacular goals by Vladimir Weiss and Marek Hamsik sent them crashing to defeat.
Alexander Baunov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, says that while many nationalist fans in 2010 were critical of the government, they have since rallied to the Kremlin after “the Russian state exceeded their expectations” with the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Collymore, covering the tournament in a journalistic capacity, reported that it was “kicking off” between Russian and English supporters on the streets.
It made no reference to any action it might take.
In total, 36 people were arrested on Wednesday, 12 of them Russian, including six who were involved in the violence that occurred before and after Russia’s match with England in Marseille last Saturday.
Police arrest a football fan in the city centre of Lille, France.
The flare was ignited shortly after Denis Glushakov headed in what proved to be a consolation goal in the 2-1 loss at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille.
Farrington, like many other England fans, was in the city on Thursday and he said the trouble started more-or-less straight away.
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Russia’s next match will be against Wales in Toulouse on Monday.
