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ENGLISH hooligans continued to instigate fighting in Marseille yesterday, before, during and after the match with Tunisia.
Sporadic clashes with opposing fans and locals began early in the morning as supporters made their way to the stadium. Bottles and stones were thrown across the wide tree-lined avenues leading to the ground as French riot police stood by in the baking sun.Rivals gangs chased each other back and forth as police snatch squads attempted to round up the English ringleaders. Pictures of the clashes were broadcast live on Sky TV an hour before the 1.30pm kick-off.
But fears that tickets bought from touts - in some cases for as little as �30 - would lead to segregation problems inside the stadium itself proved groundless as the match got underway without any trouble. However, a large group of ticketless fans watching a giant TV screen on the beach were involved in further clashes with local youths and thirty English supporters were arrested. French police said 12 fans were injured in the clashes. Bizarrely, the two English supporters who were stabbed on Sunday one of whom reportedly had his throat slashed discharged themselves from hospital during the afternoon.
The French government announced during the day that they had rushed through a new law so that fans arrested for fighting and causing criminal damage could now be deported without first appearing in court.
FIFA official Keith Cooper meanwhile insisted that there is no danger of England being kicked out of the World Cup as a result of the disturbances. There have been suggestions that Glenn Hoddle's men may be expelled after the fighting but Cooper, the communications director of football's governing body, stressed: ''It's not a question we have even contemplated. The England football team are not responsible for a handful of people throwing chairs through cafe windows. There's no reason to remove the team from the competition. It's not even a point of discussion.''
Cooper also insisted that the hooliganism would not affect England's chances of staging the 2006 finals. ''I don't think we should confuse these two things. They're two completely separate issues,'' he said. "I don't think it is at all reasonable for the acts of a handful of people - here we're talking about a few dozen mindless perverts - to put in jeopardy a candidature that is still in its infancy."
The FIFA official fears that some of the better-known English hooligans have still to arrive in France, but warned there was nothing that his bosses could do to stop them coming. ''We are obliged to follow law,'' he explained. ''FIFA is not a law-maker or a police force. The argument is that everyone has a right to travel within Europe, but you could bring the counter-argument that the people in Marseille have a right to be protected. We subscribe to the second.''
Cooper, who is English, is baffled as to why England is dogged by hooliganism. "The English invented and exported it, and other people picked it up and ran with it, but England intend remaining world champions of this problem. It surrounds the England national team in particular."
Late yesterday court officials in Marseille said two English supporters, from Liverpool, had been jailed for three months each after being convicted of hooligan offences. Their names were not immediately released.
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DECENT FANS CAUGHT
UP IN THE TROUBLE
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AS THE hooligans went on the rampage in Marseille, the vast majority of decent English football supporters struggled to distance themselves from the fighting in and around the city. Local youths were reported to be waiting outside the main railway station late into the night armed with knives and baseball bats intent on attacking newcomers while several hotels known to be packed with English fans were pelted with stones as darkness fell on the city.
Brummie Tom Parrish spoke for many English supporters when he told reporters: "All day we've been taunted, insulted and been subjected to obscene gestures from Tunisian supporters driving cars up and down in front of England fans. Most of us just ignored it, but there are a few boys here who won't put up with that sort of provocation for too long. You're bound to get trouble sooner or later."
Other innocent England fans talked of being ordered by French riot police to leave the area by certain streets only to be met by large gangs of locals wielding knives and bottles. One said: "The police told us we'd be safe but there were French kids waiting for us. We were just about to be charged when an Arab restaurant owner told us to come inside his place and he pulled down the shutters and locked us in. If he hadn't done that, some of us wouldn't be here now."
More than 20 plane loads of England fans arrived in Marseille just a few hours before kick-off and, not surprisingly, were greeted by a huge police presence. One fan said: "It's just like Rome all over again. A few mindless idiots have ruined everyone's day yet again. There are kids and families here and people thought they were coming to the World Cup for an amazing experience. Instead, we were faced with broken glass underfoot and police waving tear gas launchers under our noses."
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News 8 
