A group of 20 Russian football fans has been deported from France after being accused of involvement in hooliganism at Euro 2016.
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The two England fans were among 35 people injured during three days of clashes in Marseille between England and Russian Federation fans before their game last Saturday.
After a week of violence at the European Championship, France sentenced three Russian fans to prison and planned to deport 20 others next week for their role in the violence in Marseille that marred Russia’s opening match against England. “He is among the group”, an investigation source stated.
Local authorities in Lyon said the altercation broke up Wednesday evening after French supporters started to sing France’s national anthem, “La Marseillaise”.
The arrest of the Russians turned into a diplomatic incident on Wednesday when Moscow summoned France’s ambassador to protest.
The defendants were among 43 Russians detained after their bus was stopped by French police in a check for hooligans near the town of Mandelieu.
The atmosphere in Lens was good-natured before kickoff, but schools in the city were closed because of fan trouble fears.
Michael Stothard, the Financial Times’ Paris correspondent, claimed to have witnessed a group of English fans encouraging a young child to drink a bottle of beer, in exchange for a handful of change.
“The English had had a lot to drink but the Russians were in urban guerrilla mode and had come for a fight”. They stamped on me. “I have bruises all over my body”, he told AFP.
“There were 15,000 Russians at the game in Marseille”, he said. “It’s been and gone”. “But I got a few (punches) in myself”, he said.
Russian and Slovakian supporters also gathered in Lille last night following their game at the city’s Stade Pierre-Mauroy and there were fresh scuffles between fans of the two nations.
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.
To many around the world, tear gas and water canon, which were also used to disperse fans in Marseille, give an impression of massive civil unrest. We saw that one of them was punched in the face and in the ribs.
Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that the Russian consular services were working on legally assisting the Russians detained in France.
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Shprygin, an aide to nationalist Russian lawmaker Igor Lebedev, told Russian media a year ago that he wanted to see “Slavic faces” in the Russian squad.
