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Police use tear gas to break up fights in France

At least one Briton is understood to have been left seriously ill after a day of disorder in the Mediterranean port city left as many as 20 England fans injured. At the end of the 1-1 draw in the Stade Velodrome, Russian fans charged into the England supporters’ section and scuffles briefly broke out.

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The badly injured man is British, age 51, Duroselle said.

Twenty-four hours later, at the same venue and after a few more beers, French police had to separate scores of England and Russian fans.

After the worst scenes at an worldwide tournament since the 1998 World Cup, fears of new violence ran high hours ahead of the Turkey-Croatia game in Paris, which organisers have also classed as high-risk.

Rebekah Vardy, the new wife of England striker Jamie, had earlier tweeted angrily about the treatment of fans prior to the match.

The concert took place in the official fan zone set up for soccer lovers who do not have tickets to watch games. The England supporters had been drinking in local pubs and it was not known how the fights started.

When UEFA’s disciplinary panel judges incidents in Marseille, it could take Russian fans’ track record at Euro 2012 into account.

UEFA said in a statement on Sunday: “UEFA expresses its utter disgust for the violent clashes that occurred in the city centre of Marseille, and its serious concern for the incidents at the end of the match inside Stade Velodrome”.

UEFA will work with local authorities to try to ensure there is no repeat of the violence that followed England’s 1-1 draw with Russian Federation.

The scenes caused revulsion in England, where hooliganism is often thought of as a phenomenon of the past.

One English fan was left in a critical condition, the regional police prefect Laurent Nunez said.

“It’s the English, what do you expect?”

One supporter said: “We know this looks bad but we are simply not too blame”.

“In 1998 it was the same thing”.

Assistant chief constable Mark Roberts, national lead on football policing, told the Today programme: “There was a fairly toxic mix of hooligan groups from Russian Federation determined to cause trouble, a lot of the local Marseille ultras looking for trouble and a large anti-social element (of England fans) who drink to excess, make themselves very visible and make themselves a target for these other risk groups”.

“There was a disruption from the supporters when it was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for the Euros”, said Carole Gomez, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations.

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However, the strikes in France have showed little sign of letting up, with Air France pilots joining rail workers, rubbish collectors and oil refinery workers in walking off the job.

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