This view was confirmed by the French authorities on Monday when Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin laid most of the blame for Saturday’s violence at the hands of 150 “extremely well-trained” Russian “ultras”. “I will not say they are violence professionals, but they were highly trained”.
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Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters that about 35 people were injured in three days of clashes around Saturday’s match that ended in a 1-1 draw at the Stade Velodrome, and that one England fan remained in a critical but stable condition.
UEFA have vowed to kick England and Russian Federation out of Euro 2016 if fan violence dominates any more of their Group B matches.
“We weren’t told, ‘Be very careful, you’re going to face ultra-violent Russian groups, ‘” said Mesquida, a representative of the Unite SGP Police-FO union for the CRS riot police in the Marseille region.
Prosecutor Andre Ribes said police had reported that Booth had thrown a glass bottle and had aimed for their legs under their shields.
Two Russians were among those arrested, but none was among the suspected hooligans facing swift justice, Robin said.
A Russian football official and MP has praised the fans involved in violence on Sunday in Marseille, saying they had defended their country’s honour and should be forgiven.
He said officials had been unable to stop the Russian thugs as they had arrived in the city by train.
It also opened disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Football Union for alleged crowd disturbances, racist behaviour and the setting off of fireworks by its fans during the game on Saturday night.
Asked whether a complaint had been made about Russian fan behaviour, she said: “We have raised our concerns about the situation and want to look clearly at how we can improve it moving forward”.
“I am appealing therefore to all of our fans – and we appreciate your support at the matches of course – I’m appealing to you to stay out of trouble and to try and make certain that these threats that are being issued are never carried out and we are able to attempt to do the best we can and stay in the competition by football means”.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has described the disorder as “unacceptable”.
The French government gave police chiefs powers to ban alcohol sales and consumption from the day before matches near the 10 stadiums and fan zones being used for the month-long, 24-nation tournament.
The UK government has offered to send extra British police ahead of England’s next match in Lens on Thursday.
Rooney asked those without tickets for games not to travel.
A decision on sanctions is to be announced Tuesday.
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Darren Rodgers, 25, from Ballymena, fell 26ft (8m) over a barrier from a promenade on to a hard pebble beach in the south coast city in the early hours of Monday morning, police said.
