Season 06/07 - July

Over 40 English, Germans held in Gelsenkirchen - 01/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS

Riot police detained more than 40 English and German fans overnight after brief clashes in Gelsenkirchen ahead of England's World Cup quarter-final with Portugal, a British spokeswoman said on Saturday.

Scuffles broke out on Friday evening as thousands of England supporters gathered for Saturday's game while German fans celebrated their team's 4-2 win on penalties over Argentina in Berlin.

A spokeswoman for the British Home Office working in Germany said 13 English fans had been held, 10 for throwing bottles and three for minor offences. Of the 10, four were preventative arrests meaning they are likely to be released with no charge.

Twenty nine German fans were also held, she said.

The fans had been drinking and playing football together earlier on Friday but riot police had to move into the area and separate the two groups after they began throwing bottles.

Between 50,000 to 70,000 English fans have followed their side at each World Cup game in Germany and there has been little trouble but some 500 were held in Stuttgart before England's second-round match for clashing with rival fans and police.

England play Portugal at 1500 GMT in the Arena AufSchalke.

England fans arrested in Germany - 02/07/2006

Source : BC NEWS

German police have arrested at least 80 England football fans in Gelsenkirchen after the team was knocked out of the World Cup by Portugal.

Saturday's quarter-final game went to penalties which Portugal won 3-1.

After the match, more than 150 England and Portugal fans were involved in clashes with police on Jersey. There were 25 arrests, Jersey Police said.

The England team are set to return to the UK later on Sunday. Their plane is expected in London and Manchester.

After the match, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who steps down as England manager, spoke of his sadness and anger at being out of the tournament.

"To get over this will take a long time. I was convinced we had a team who could reach the final.

"Four years ago we reached a quarter final and that was a good result but this time it is not good enough. We should be in the final. The quality of the squad is that good."

An estimated 26 million people in the UK watched the match, while up to 70,000 fans were in the German town of Gelsenkirchen.

They were left reeling as first captain David Beckham went off with an injury, and then striker Wayne Rooney was sent off with a red card.

Disbelief

Watching in Gelsenkirchen, Richard Chapman, 39, a company director, from Wickford, Essex, said: "With Rooney it was frustration. If you play somebody who is hungry, and don't feed them, that sort of thing is going to happen."

Things went from bad to worse for England as the goalless game ended in a penalty shoot-out.

Ray Johnston, 40, an electrician from Enfield, north London, who watched the game in the stadium, said: "I had my hopes when it started. I thought, surely it can't happen again, but it has."

Mark Sharp, 45, a heavy goods driver from Nottingham, said: "We never win on penalties, do we?

"I knew as soon as it went to penalties, that was it."

In Harlesden, north London, however, the mood was celebratory, as jubilant Portuguese fans drove up and down the high street cheering, and waving flags from their cars.

Unrest on the streets of Jersey's capital St Helier began shortly after the Portugal win and officers sealed off an area of Portuguese shops and businesses.

A total of 10% of Jersey's population is Portuguese or of Portuguese origin.

It only the second time in the island's history that riot police have been deployed there.

In Gelsenkirchen, police spokesman Thomas Weise said 80 to 90 English fans had been arrested for drunken and aggressive behaviour.

Jersey: Arrests after football violence - 01/07/2006

Source : BBC NEWS

At least 25 people have been arrested in Jersey after fighting following the England v Portugal World Cup match, Jersey police said.

Unrest on the streets of St Helier began shortly after the Portugal win.

Officers sealed off an area of Portuguese shops and businesses as more than 150 people clashed with police.

Ten per cent of Jersey is Portuguese or of Portuguese origin. Riot police were deployed for only the second time in the island's history.

Ch Insp Sean Duval of Jersey Police said: "The majority of people we had difficulties with and we had to deploy public order officers against were young people. I wouldn't describe the majority of them as football fans."

Police had kept the two sets of supporters separate after similar scenes during Euro 2004.

Paris police arrest 69 at World Cup celebrations - 02/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS

Police arrested 69 people as troublemakers smashed Paris shop windows and set two cars ablaze during mostly peaceful celebrations of France's victory over Brazil in the World Cup quarter-finals, police said on Sunday.

A policewoman was treated in hospital after a bottle hit her in the face during the celebrations on Saturday night.

Waving flags and shouting "We have won!", some 500,000 soccer fans took to the boulevard Champs Elysees rollerblading, cycling or just walking.

They chanted "Zizou, Zizou" in honour of midfielder Zinedine Zidane and the comeback of "Les Bleus", who stunned Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 final.

Striker Thierry Henry volleyed home a free kick from Zidane for the winner after 57 minutes, securing the French team a place in the semi-final against Portugal on Wednesday.

Wearing a scarf in the colours of the French team, President Jacques Chirac said after the match he was full of "immense joy".

The victory comes at a welcome time for Chirac's government, which has seen its popularity tumble after riots in French suburbs last year, unrest over a job law this spring and a dirty tricks scandal involving senior politicians.



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Troubles in Marseille


Police gas a man on Marseille' Old Port, southern France, during a fighting with soccer fans, after the quarterfinal match France against Brazil, Saturday July 1, 2006. France defeated Brazil 1-0 and advances to World Cup semifinals

500 England fans in police battle - 02/07/2006

Source : BBC NEWS

Drunken fans battled with police for nearly three hours in Bolton in the aftermath of England's World Cup exit.
Greater Manchester Police said between 300 to 500 drunken supporters spilled out of pubs in the Bradshaw Gate area of Bolton and started fighting.

Police were attacked as the tried to quell the disturbance but the large numbers of fans overwhelmed officers.

The tactical aid unit was used but it still took more than two and half hours to restore calm. There were 12 arrests.

'Good humour'

All town centre pubs and bars closed voluntarily and reopened 2120 BST.

Ch Supt Dave Lea from Bolton said: "It is regrettable that it was necessary for us to take this action as a result of the behaviour of a small number of individuals who were clearly intent on causing trouble.

"I witnessed for myself the good humour and co-operation of the majority caught up in this and would like to thank these people for their help in restoring order."

No members of the public were injured, said police.

Algerians riot over World Cup - 02/07/2006

Source : BBC NEWS

Algerian football fans rioted after a power cut stopped television coverage of Germany's World Cup quarter-final victory over Argentina.
Fans in the western Algerian town of Tiaret ransacked and set fire to public buildings when the electrical failure struck after the start of the match.

Groups of youths attacked the Ksar Chellala town hall, 120 kilometres south-east of Tiaret, and gangs also blocked access to Tiaret with burning tyres.

Riot police used tear-gas grenades to disperse the crowds.

The Algerian government had decided to subsidise the cost of showing the World Cup after television companies indicated they would not transmit the matches.

Angered by noise, man shoots at French soccer fans - 02/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS

A man angry about loud, jubilant French soccer fans opened fire on a crowd celebrating France's World Cup victory against Brazil, injuring two people before being shot dead by police.

Police said the man seemed to have been drunk. He was shot after he threatened officers with a sabre and died on the scene.

Angered by the noise following France's quarter-final victory on Saturday, the man left his house and opened fire on a crowd in the southern village of Cap d'Ail near Monaco, police said on Sunday.

One woman was seriously injured and treated in hospital.

Millions of people took to the streets across France on Saturday to celebrate their team's victory. Police in Paris arrested 69 people as troublemakers smashed shop windows and set two cars ablaze during mostly peaceful celebrations.

Football yobs could be forced to report to police - 05/07/2006

Source : Thisislancashire

HOOLIGANS who brawled in the street in Bolton town centre following England's World Cup defeat on Saturday could be banned from football matches or up to five years.

Police chiefs say they will consider applying for football banning orders against each of the 16 people arrested.

Up to 500 fans attacked each other in Bradshawgate before turning on passers-by and police.

continued...
Riot police were called in to clear the streets. Of the 16 arrested, two were charged with offences, two were bailed and 12 were given fixed penalty fines of £80.

Others could also be arrested as police begin the massive task of checking hours of CCTV footage from town centre cameras and the force's helicopter.

The banning orders are usually reserved for hooligans involved in trouble in and around football grounds.

But police in Bolton warned before the start of the tournament that drunken hooligans spilling from the town's pubs after crunch games would be targeted.

Chief Insp Martin Greenhalgh said: "We will have to judge every case on its merits, but we have the powers to apply for banning orders against anybody involved in disorder which surrounds football whether they are actually at the game or not.

"We have launched an investigation into Saturday's events and hopefully there will be more arrests.

"Where we are able to identify people, we will decide what action to take from there."

A football banning order bars an individual from all football grounds in the UK for between two and five years and from travelling abroad when England are playing.

Anybody subject to an order would have to report to a police station on match days and would have to surrender their passports to police ahead of football tournaments stopping them from leaving the country even for a holiday.

A total of 44 Bolton Wanderers fans are currently subject to football banning orders.

l A man arrested during the incident in Bolton town centre on Saturday has appeared in court.

Gareth G*********, aged 22, of Edgehill Road, Deane, yesterday pleaded not guilty to possession of an offensive weapon at Bolton Magistrates Court and was remanded on bail until August 1.

FC Nizhny Novgorod - Dynamo Moscow - Cup - 02/07/2006



Locals

FRANCE - PORTUGAL - 05/07/2006 (Troubles in France)

Source : AFP + AP

Fan dead as France parties hard after beating Portugal

France's jubilation at advancing to the World Cup final was cut short by the death of a fan in a subway accident in the frenzy following the 1-0 victory over Portugal on Wednesday.

The victim climbed atop a train at the Opera metro station, in central Paris beneath the famed Opera Garnier, and fell at around midnight. Police said circumstances of the accident remained unclear.

The incident disrupted traffic while the metro system was packed with people heading home after the match or heading to celebrate.

Most fans remained peaceful but energized, mounting Paris monuments and dancing through streets of several cities.

Advancing this far in the tournament has been particularly sweet for a nation beset by malaise - and one that had little faith in its team going into the Cup.

Scattered violence was reported as raucous fans got out of hand. Clashes broke out in Lyon after the match, and emergency workers evacuated some 20 injured people, the Lyon fire department said.

Some cars were also torched and vandalized.

Some clashes were reported at the Charlety Stadium in southern Paris, where the match was broadcast live on a huge screen. One person was wounded and hospitalized, police said.

Street parties after major soccer wins often end with scattered violence. But police have been especially vigilant following riots that broke out last autumn in France's troubled neighborhoods, where many immigrants from Africa live with their French-born children.

15 Ajax hooligans sentenced for clubhouse attack - 07/06/2006

Source : AP

Fifteen Ajax supporters were jailed for up to four years Thursday for assaulting rival ADO fans outside their clubhouse in The Hague earlier this year.

But judges turned down the prosecutors' demand to call the accused a criminal gang in place of soccer hooligans. "The court is of the opinion that there is insufficient evidence to prove that the accused worked as a structured group with the aim of committing these offences," their written ruling said.

Prosecutors were considering an appeal, Dutch media reported.

A group of about 70 Ajax supporters attacked 10 ADO fans with baseball bats and knives on Feb. 10.

Although most of the 70 have been identified, the verdict covered the 15 supporters seen as ringleaders. Their names were not released. They received sentences of between one and four years.

The harshest sentence was given to a 19-year-old who threw a molotov cocktail into the clubhouse, forcing the ADO fans to leave the burning building. Two were stabbed and one was beaten so badly he was hospitalized for several days.

The Hague and Amsterdam have since banned visiting supporters from matches between the two clubs for five years. Ajax has said it will ban anyone involved from its stadium for 10 years.

In a separate case Tuesday, a judge ordered twenty Ajax supporters to complete up to 70 hours community service for their involvement in public disturbances during the Amsterdam club's Dutch Cup victory celebrations in May.

Football fan killed in Kenya over World Cup result - 05/07/2006

Source : AFP

Kenyan police said on Wednesday they were searching for two men suspected of beating to death a fan of Brazil's World Cup team after the reigning football champion's weekend loss to France.

The 21-year-old Brazil fan died after being savagely attacked by the France-supporting suspects who allegedly chided and ridiculed the victim when the Brazilian side lost to the French on Saturday, police said.

The three had been watching the match at a popular video shop in a remote village in western Kenya when they began to fight over Brazil's 1-0 loss to France and the altercation spread into the street, they said.

The victim, Austin Ochieng Okello, was beaten unconscious and left on a footpath, but then managed to stagger to a nearby home in Siaya village where he was found dead on Sunday, police said, citing witness accounts.

Siaya district Deputy Police Chief Charles Gathiari said the assailants, who fled the scene but are known to villagers, will be captured and charged with murder.

"We have dispatched a team of officers to track them down with the help of the villagers," he told Agence France-Presse. "They are known people and hopefully within two to three days they will be arrested."

45 German fans arrested after heartbreaking loss against Italy - 05/07/2006

Source : IRNA

At least 45 German fans were arrested during nationwide scuffles with police following Germany's heartbreaking overtime semi-final defeat against arch-rivals Italy, DPA quoted police as saying on Wednesday.

Several people were detained in Munich for being involved in post-game fights and damaging public property, police announced.

In the north German port city of Cuxhaven, frustated fans pelted police with bottles, leading to the arrest of four people.

Meanhwile dozens of fans were arrested in Berlin on charges of insulting police, inflicting bodily harm and possession of drugs.

France boosts security for World Cup final night - 07/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said he had ordered some 4,000 extra police onto French streets for Sunday to snuff out any disorder linked to the World Cup final between France and Italy.

Sarkozy said he had told police chiefs to take a firm line with any troublemakers attempting to mug revellers or those out watching Sunday night's final. The match, in Berlin, is to be broadcast in public on giant screens in major French cities.

"There are specific orders to anticipate as much as possible the movement of gangs, so they can be detained before they melt into the crowds of supporters," Sarkozy said.

An estimated 500,000 people poured onto the streets of the French capital on Wednesday after the national team clinched a place in the final by defeating Portugal.

Most flocked to the Champs Elysees in central Paris, which hosted around 1.5 million revellers when the country won its first World Cup in 1998.

Wednesday's celebrations were marred by the deaths of four people in separate incidents around the country and 350 people were arrested, the Interior Ministry said.

It said the same policing arrangements would be put in place next Friday to ensure calm on the Bastille Day national holiday.

France - Italy - 09/07/2006

Source : AFP

PARIS






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Italy

In Rome the police had to intervene at least twice when groups of hooligans attacked and damaged a mobile police post in the Piazza Venezia with bottles and cobblestones they had torn up from the road.

Police also used teargas to clear another famous central piazza, the Flower Market, when rival gangs became violent and smashed tables and cafe chairs and threw more bottles.

Arrests for acts of hooliganism, minor injuries and damage to cars were reported in several other cities, including Milan, Ancona and Naples.

In Milan, over-excited fans hijacked a bus and forced the driver to hand over his keys.

They danced on the roof of the bus as it careered through the city.

Cup cops 9,000 arrests - 11/07/2006

Source : London Free Press

German authorities made about 9,000 arrests and temporary detentions at the World Cup, a figure a senior official described yesterday as tiny.

Police registered about 7,000 offences during the month-long tournament, with bodily harm, theft and damage to property accounting for most of them, said Michael Endler, the head of the agency that oversaw deployments.

Of the 9,000 held in temporary custody or arrested, "80 per cent were German, and the second-biggest group was probably the English," Endler said.

Endler noted that about 14 million people gathered for outdoor screenings of World Cup matches, and said "we have to see the figures against this background." He described them as "vanishingly small."

Police saw less violence than expected from both German and foreign hooligans.

"The bad boys from eastern Europe did not come in the numbers that were forecast," he said. Nearly all known English hooligans stayed home, he added.

In total, 850 people were injured -- 350 troublemakers, 200 police officers and 300 bystanders.

Football clubs show hooligans red card - 15/07/2006

Source : SWISSINFO

The Swiss Football League has unveiled tougher measures against hooligans, two months after fans went on the rampage in Basel after a decisive match for the title.

The package will come into force on Wednesday, in time for the start of the new football season, and has been approved by the country's top clubs.

"We realised that it was particularly some visiting fans who were creating security problems," said the football league's security chief Thomas Helbling.

Clubs will now be more responsible for their fans when they play away games, meaning they will have to organise the ticket sales for their sections of the away stadium themselves.

The guest club will also have to take the personal details of their fans as well as provide somebody from the club to accompany the supporters.

Helbling dismissed fears that some fans would be against the identity checks.

"This won't be a problem for peaceful fans. Details are often taken when getting rail cards or concert tickets, why should it be any different for football games?"

An anti:violence campaign and mobile cameras, which are to be financed by the league, should also help calm the situation, said the league.

It added clubs were in favour of the moves and would make their security concept available at the beginning of each season.

But the league warned that changes would take time and that is was possible that violent supporters would find another outlet for their behaviour.

Basel violence

The new measures come after one of the worst incidents of post:match violence in Swiss football.

In May hundreds of people went on the rampage in Basel in the wake of a match between the local team and Swiss champions, FC Zurich.

Parliament earlier this year approved a series of measures ? limited until the end of 2009 : to crack down on violent fans, including a national hooligan database, travel restrictions for known troublemakers and increased police powers.

These are to be put into place in time for Euro 2008, which Switzerland is jointly hosting with Austria.

The law has been unpopular with some fans. Data protection experts have warned that the planned database is unconstitutional.

However, it was announced on Thursday that a move to force a referendum on the law had failed.

The referendum committee, made up of a group of football and hockey fans, said it had not managed to collect the 50,000 signatures required, falling about 10,000 short.

Supporters of the vote claimed the law violated their rights and did not fulfil its objectives. The committee said that the events in Basel, plus a lack of political support, had contributed to the failure.

Angry fans take to the streets after verdicts - 15/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS

Fans of the three top clubs found guilty in Italy's match-fixing scandal took to the streets on Friday after hearing the news that their teams will be playing next season in the second-tier Serie B.

Bringing to a head the biggest scandal in European soccer for decades, a sports tribunal in Rome sent Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio down to Serie B with points penalties.

The fourth club involved, AC Milan, will start their campaign in the top Serie A division next season but with minus 15 points.

The biggest gathering of fans was in Rome, where about 400 Lazio supporters vented their feelings outside the hotel where the tribunal convened to announce its verdict.

In Turin, angry Juventus fans gathered in front of the club's headquarters to shout slogans against tribunal president Cesare Ruperto and AC Milan.

In Florence, Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli spoke of his 'rage' against the verdicts, but the team's supporters made a largely peaceful demonstration, blocking roads in the city centre.

The verdicts were the culmination of a scandal which started at the beginning of May with the publication of intercepted phone conversations between former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi and Italian Football Federation officials discussing refereeing appointments during the 2004-05 season.

Tribunal president Ruperto delivered the verdicts in an ornate conference room, hung with chandeliers, in the basement of the hotel in Rome.

Lazio fans had begun to gather in the street outside the hotel several hours earlier.

At first they limited their protests to anti-Juventus chants, but the mood turned uglier as the defence lawyers filed out of the hotel following the verdicts.

The lawyer representing former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo, Luigi Chiappero, was surrounded and insulted by fans as he walked to his car.

Lazio lawyer Gian Michele Gentile was forced to remain inside the hotel by threats from the crowd.

'This is an unjust trial in the sense that Juve are the only guilty ones but - as usual - the rest of us are being made to pay for it,' 33-year-old Lazio fan Andrea Hotfield told Reuters.

'In this country football is founded on the fans' attachment to the shirt, and the clubs, the federation and the officials all take advantage of that.

'I don't know what we're going to do next, but I don't think these will be easy days in Rome.'

Fiorentina fans block railway to protest relegation - 17/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS

Supporters of Italian soccer team Fiorentina blocked one of the country's main railway lines on Monday in protest at last week's sports tribunal verdict relegating the club to Serie B.

A spokesman for the state railway company said around 1,000 fans had marched on to the lines at Campo Di Marte station, Florence's second largest, at around 6:30 pm local time (1630 GMT) causing all trains to be suspended on the main Rome-Milan line.

The sports tribunal ruled on Friday that Juventus, which is based in Turin, Fiorentina from Florence, and Rome's Lazio should be thrown out of the Serie A for attempted match fixing.

AC Milan, the other team involved in Italy's biggest ever sports scandal, was allowed to remain in Serie A but docked 15 points at the start of next season and excluded from European competition.

All the teams have said they will appeal the decision but Fiorentina's fans have appeared particularly incensed.

On Monday a second group of the club's supporters marched to the training ground of the Italian national side at Coverciano, close to Florence, where they pulled down the flag of the Football Federation whose tribunal demoted the club.

Copa Libertadores - River Plate crash out, fans riot - 18/07/2006

Source : soccerway website

River Plate fans incited a riot with Paraguayan police on Tuesday night as the Argentine giants were eliminated from the 2006 Copa Libertadores at the hands of Libertad.

The home side led 3-1 on the night and 5-3 on aggregate when clashes erupted in the seats between police and visiting River fans with about 10 minutes left to play in the game, forcing the match to be abandoned. The 3-1 result will stand as the official score.

The match was being played two months after the first leg of the sides' quarter-final tie in May. The tournament took a hiatus while the World Cup was played in Germany, but returned to conclude on Tuesday.

Libertad, who earned a 2-2 draw in Buenos Aires in the first leg, took the lead on 17 minutes on a header by Rodrigo López before Sergio Aquino extended the advantage in the 41st minute.

Paraguay international Cristian Riveros added Libertad's third just after the restart from point-blank range before Ernesto Farías pulled one back for River just minutes before the rioting began.
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Source: Sports Illustrated

Riots as River falls from Libertadores

ASUNCION (Reuters) - Rioting River Plate fans forced the match to be called off in the 80th minute as the Argentine team was knocked out of the Libertadores Cup by Paraguay's Libertad on Tuesday.

Libertad were leading 3-1 at home in the quarter-final second leg and 5-3 on aggregate when Chilean referee Ruben Selman abandoned play at the Defensors del Chaco stadium after River supporters clashed with riot police on the terraces.

Although the game did not officially finish, South American policy is to let the result stand when the supporters of the losing team cause the trouble.

River themselves reached the last eight after their second round second leg tie at Sao Paulo's Pacaembu stadium was called off in the 83rd minute after Corinthians fans broke down a gate and tried to invade the pitch.

River won that game 3-1 for a 6-3 aggregate victory.

Trouble began on Tuesday when a large contingent of River fans began tearing up plastic seats and hurled them at home supporters, whose contingent included a number of fans wearing the shirts of River's arch-rivals Boca Juniors.

The River supporters forced riot police to retreat against a fence and set fire to banners as the situation turned ugly before being brought under control.

By that stage, Selman had decided it was not safe for play to continue, despite angry protests from the River players who had staged a late fightback despite being reduced to 10 men.

Libertad, who held on for a 2-2 draw in Buenos Aires in the first leg played before the World Cup, when ahead in the 17th minute when Uruguayan striker Rodrigo Lopez scored with a looping far post header over goalkeeper German Lux.

Sergio Aquino added a second for the Paraguayan underdogs in the 41st minute when he connected with the rebound after Maritn Hidalgo's shot crashed off the crossbar.

Paraguay midfielder Crisitan Riveros rifled a close-range shot into the roof of the net two minutes after halftime for Libertad's third.

River, champions in 1986 and 1996, were in further trouble in the 62nd minute when captain Marcelo Gallardo received a straight red card for a two-footed lunge on an opponent.

After being repeatedly denied by Paraguay World Cup goalkeeper Aldo Bobadilla, Daniel Passarella's team pulled one back when Ernesto Farias scored at the second attempt in the 77th minute.

But a possible fightback was ended by their own fans.

River fined, police chiefs fired after Libertadores riot - 19/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS

Paraguayan police have fired two high-ranking officials following Tuesday night's riot at the Libertadores Cup match between Libertad and Argentina's River Plate.

River were fined $30,000 by the South American Football Confederation (CSF) after their fans started the trouble which forced the game to be called off in the 80th minute.

Libertad were leading 3-1 in the quarter-final second leg and 5-3 on aggregate when Chilean referee Ruben Selman sent the teams to the dressing-rooms at the Defensores del Chaco stadium.

The CSF also confirmed on Wednesday that the result will stand and that no action will be taking against the Paraguayan team.

Fidel Isasa, head of the national police force, said the head of the Asuncion Metropolitan Area force had been dismissed.

The official responsible for the neighbourhood in which the stadium is located was also fired, Isasa told reporters.

"We've found that the riot police were not well distributed," he said. "If there had been more of them, we would have had a better result."

River Plate fans hurled plastic seats, bottles and stones at the home fans and at one stage managed to corner the small group of police who tried to stop the rioting.

They also set fire to a banner hung around the perimeter fence.

An estimated 4,000 River fans crossed the border for the game. Supporters wearing the shirts of their arch-rivals Boca Juniors were seen in the Libertad contingent.

Ten people were treated in hospital, officials said.

Earlier this year, River Plate's Libertadores match away to Brazilian champions Corinthians in Sao Paulo was also suspended when Corinthians fans broke down a gate and two of them invaded the pitch.

River were leading 6-3 on aggregate at the time and that result also stood.



Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm7z1t9SysM&search=river%20incidentes

Libertadores Cup: Sao Paulo FC - Estudiantes de la Plata - 19/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS

Sao Paulo won 4-3 in the shootout after their 1-0 home win at the Morumbi stadium levelled the aggregate score at 1-1.

The game ended in ugly scenes as dozens of Sao Paulo fans ran onto the field to celebrate, forcing the players to rush to the changing rooms.

Milan demonstration - 20/07/2006

Source : REÜTERS


AC Milan's soccer fans demonstrate in downtown Milan Thursday, July 20, 2006, asking for ''Justice'' for their team.

Grasshoppers Zürich - KAA Gent - 15/07/2006

Source : mail

A fight errupted between the 2 sides, locals had to retreat...


Gent mob