Marseille- What Really Happened

[The Year Of The Fox]

I'm still seeing people on social media and the mainstream media talking about the events in Marseille as if they were the fault of the England fans out there and thought it should be put right. I was in Marseille all day Friday, and all day Saturday before heading off to the game that night.

It's worth noting that England fans have never been held in the highest regard for years, Belgium and Holland in 2000 is the last one that springs to mind most recently. To try and put a stop to this the FA (since at least 2008) decreed those that are in the England Supporters Club undergo rigorous checks before being allowed to become members. Anything so much as a police caution for pissing in the street on a night out can see you removed from the club (therefore stopping you getting tickets for away games and tournaments via The FA)

At the ferry port in Dover a mate of mine had to undergo further police checks from England and LCFC football intelligence units due to a none football related public disorder conviction going back three years. Then there are those on football banning orders who have to hand their passports in every time England play away from home. My point is, that the British police weren't just letting any old football fan into France.

We were drinking all day in Marseille, the weather was hot, there were lots of England fans outside the pubs and the mood was jovial. There was literally nothing different to the way England fans there behaved compared to Leicester fans behave at away games in this country. Obviously were yet to find out how our current LCFC supporters will behave abroad. The big difference and the catalyst in all that went on on that Friday 10th June was the way in which the French police 'policed' the England fans. In the three or four times that they fired off tear gas it was done so because (as far as anyone I've spoken to who was there) the England fans were chanting loudly. They couldn't seem to differentiate between loud football songs and dancing and fans/thugs or whatever about to cause trouble. Our police are brilliant at policing our support up and down our country and I've never seen them rush in on fans with batons or tear gas for chanting loudly.

It's worth noting too that the police presence there that Friday (and mostly on Saturday- more about thst later) was very much on show, with them lining the path immediately by the harbours edge, donned in full riot gear, tear gas grenade launchers and assault rifles- fair enough given the terrorist threat. As soon as the chanting got too loud the police waded in with batons shields and the tear gas. This DID get the backs up with some England fans who then stupidly retaliated with a few bottles. But the policing was way out of control.

During one of the police assaults I went and spoke to the Brit police there (about 10 of them) who were behind the French police advising. They basically told me they were there to advise only, but that the French police weren't too keen on listening to them, and so their hands were tied. They also told me to keep my head down and just to try and get away from the area. It seemed as if they were far from impressed by the manner in which the French police were 'dealing' with the 'situation' Obviously though they can't really come out and publicly/officially criticise their French counterparts on their policing methods in their own country. I think though that between the Brit police there, they'd have been horrified in what they were witnessing.

This all calmed down on the Friday and England fans carried on drinking and chanting outside the pubs by the harbour area whilst the France v Romania game was on on the TVs in the bar areas outside. The English were mixing really well with the French which is probably why the police decided not to intervene. Maybe they were gradually learning?!

I was sat outside The Havana Club with a group of maybe another 20 Leicester fans in a different group to ours. At some point the tables and chairs nearest to the side street leading down to the harbour started to come towards me in a domino effect as a mad scramble to get away from maybe 20 Russians who had found where the English were drinking had decided to ambush. The police were quite quick to respond- by firing tear gas, which scattered the innocent fans and Russian thugs, enabling them to fight again another day.

Our group of 5 managed to get away sharpish and decided to call it a night then.

On the Saturday we were drinking in a large square with three other city fans we'd just met. There were probably about 1000 England fans dotted around this square, making use of the table service in the outdoor bar areas sitting in the sun with the flags out (if you've seen the video I've seen its the same area where the Peterborough flag was ripped down (we were under that same parasol) At some point in the afternoon roughly 10 Russians emerged from some stairs, with gum shields in and boxer stances as they started a fight with a few England fans. These were sent packing by a set of Stoke lads near by to us and nothing more was thought of it. The police presence in this square wasn't great but luckily at this time it wasnt needed. A couple of hours later we moved round the corner from this big square to another bar. The bar had fencing set up either end of the street where they were conducting checks to make sure no one was carrying anything offensive. 5 mins after we've moved down that same set of stairs at the other end of the square, roughly 200-300 (it seemed) Russians stormed the square tearing down the flags and attacking the England fans (who'd not even sang a song yet that day) They also spilled out of other side streets around the square so it was attacked from about four directions. The England fans there had very little option but to flee down one side street to the harbour area where the England fans there retaliated to the Russians by lobbing beer bottles up the street at the Russians. This carried on for probably around 30-40 mins with England fans having little option other than to defend themselves in form of empty kronenburg bottles.

The police presence during this street riot was literally zero which was why the England fans had to act. How can the police miss a good few hundred Russians assembling (some with knives and metal bars)?

It all seems very convenient to me. Eventually though they decided to turn up and fire a few tear gas grenades to halt the riot. Again though, this only temporarily stopped the problem, rather than them targeting the Russian ring leaders, allowing them to literally fight another day.

That was pretty much it RE the trouble in the centre of Marseille before the game. The lack of police around the ground and indeed inside asks massive questions of what they were playing at- Most England fans had to walk to the ground (a hell of a trek away) as taxis were very scarce and apparently some of the metro lines were on strike. Everyone during the walk to and from the ground was on edge, just waiting for Russians to emerge from one of the many side steers in the 2mile walk to the ground.

The policing In Lille on Wednesday was brilliant, they had a large presence, again in riot gear etc, but allowed us to crack on with singing and chanting and drinking. As far as I'm aware when we left Lille at 10pm there hadn't been a single bit of trouble despite media reports.

Of course there would've been some England fans who were idiots out there and wanted to cause trouble in Marseille but to the best of my knowledge no England fan started anything that I witnessed. As for the ones who retaliated to the Russian attacks, I'm glad they were there as many more fans would've been seriously injured than what are.

I hope our city lad and the Pompey lad pull through

[Vacamion]

You obviously put a lot of thought and effort into that. You put your points across very well.

The media here were showing shirtless red faced England fans with the arms out giving it "come on then", but you can only bear witness to what you saw.

I just think our history of fan trouble, foreign distrust of our fans and a few morons still in our fanbase make police forces abroad treat England fans differently. It's sad.

If being drunk and singing in the street was a crime, I'd have spent my 20s and 30s in prison every week.

[The Year Of The Fox]

You obviously put a lot of thought and effort into that. You put your points across very well.

The media here were showing shirtless red faced England fans with the arms out giving it "come on then", but you can only bear witness to what you saw.

I just think our history of fan trouble, foreign distrust of our fans and a few morons still in our fanbase make police forces abroad treat England fans differently. It's sad.

If being drunk and singing in the street was a crime, I'd have spent my 20s and 30s in prison every week.

Well this is it. It's no different to what we do at City is it?

You can't really prepare yourself for how different polices will act in any country when you're not doing something that isn't breaking one of their laws

[The Year Of The Fox]

This statement was written by the FSF

http://www.fansembassy.org/en/news/371-euro2016-statement-englandrussia-eng.html

[VLC86]

I'm still seeing people on social media and the mainstream media talking about the events in Marseille as if they were the fault of the England fans out there and thought it should be put right. I was in Marseille all day Friday, and all day Saturday before heading off to the game that night.

It's worth noting that England fans have never been held in the highest regard for years, Belgium and Holland in 2000 is the last one that springs to mind most recently. To try and put a stop to this the FA (since at least 2008) decreed those that are in the England Supporters Club undergo rigorous checks before being allowed to become members. Anything so much as a police caution for pissing in the street on a night out can see you removed from the club (therefore stopping you getting tickets for away games and tournaments via The FA)

At the ferry port in Dover a mate of mine had to undergo further police checks from England and LCFC football intelligence units due to a none football related public disorder conviction going back three years. Then there are those on football banning orders who have to hand their passports in every time England play away from home. My point is, that the British police weren't just letting any old football fan into France.

We were drinking all day in Marseille, the weather was hot, there were lots of England fans outside the pubs and the mood was jovial. There was literally nothing different to the way England fans there behaved compared to Leicester fans behave at away games in this country. Obviously were yet to find out how our current LCFC supporters will behave abroad. The big difference and the catalyst in all that went on on that Friday 10th June was the way in which the French police 'policed' the England fans. In the three or four times that they fired off tear gas it was done so because (as far as anyone I've spoken to who was there) the England fans were chanting loudly. They couldn't seem to differentiate between loud football songs and dancing and fans/thugs or whatever about to cause trouble. Our police are brilliant at policing our support up and down our country and I've never seen them rush in on fans with batons or tear gas for chanting loudly.

It's worth noting too that the police presence there that Friday (and mostly on Saturday- more about thst later) was very much on show, with them lining the path immediately by the harbours edge, donned in full riot gear, tear gas grenade launchers and assault rifles- fair enough given the terrorist threat. As soon as the chanting got too loud the police waded in with batons shields and the tear gas. This DID get the backs up with some England fans who then stupidly retaliated with a few bottles. But the policing was way out of control.

During one of the police assaults I went and spoke to the Brit police there (about 10 of them) who were behind the French police advising. They basically told me they were there to advise only, but that the French police weren't too keen on listening to them, and so their hands were tied. They also told me to keep my head down and just to try and get away from the area. It seemed as if they were far from impressed by the manner in which the French police were 'dealing' with the 'situation' Obviously though they can't really come out and publicly/officially criticise their French counterparts on their policing methods in their own country. I think though that between the Brit police there, they'd have been horrified in what they were witnessing.

This all calmed down on the Friday and England fans carried on drinking and chanting outside the pubs by the harbour area whilst the France v Romania game was on on the TVs in the bar areas outside. The English were mixing really well with the French which is probably why the police decided not to intervene. Maybe they were gradually learning?!

I was sat outside The Havana Club with a group of maybe another 20 Leicester fans in a different group to ours. At some point the tables and chairs nearest to the side street leading down to the harbour started to come towards me in a domino effect as a mad scramble to get away from maybe 20 Russians who had found where the English were drinking had decided to ambush. The police were quite quick to respond- by firing tear gas, which scattered the innocent fans and Russian thugs, enabling them to fight again another day.

Our group of 5 managed to get away sharpish and decided to call it a night then.

On the Saturday we were drinking in a large square with three other city fans we'd just met. There were probably about 1000 England fans dotted around this square, making use of the table service in the outdoor bar areas sitting in the sun with the flags out (if you've seen the video I've seen its the same area where the Peterborough flag was ripped down (we were under that same parasol) At some point in the afternoon roughly 10 Russians emerged from some stairs, with gum shields in and boxer stances as they started a fight with a few England fans. These were sent packing by a set of Stoke lads near by to us and nothing more was thought of it. The police presence in this square wasn't great but luckily at this time it wasnt needed. A couple of hours later we moved round the corner from this big square to another bar. The bar had fencing set up either end of the street where they were conducting checks to make sure no one was carrying anything offensive. 5 mins after we've moved down that same set of stairs at the other end of the square, roughly 200-300 (it seemed) Russians stormed the square tearing down the flags and attacking the England fans (who'd not even sang a song yet that day) They also spilled out of other side streets around the square so it was attacked from about four directions. The England fans there had very little option but to flee down one side street to the harbour area where the England fans there retaliated to the Russians by lobbing beer bottles up the street at the Russians. This carried on for probably around 30-40 mins with England fans having little option other than to defend themselves in form of empty kronenburg bottles.

The police presence during this street riot was literally zero which was why the England fans had to act. How can the police miss a good few hundred Russians assembling (some with knives and metal bars)?

It all seems very convenient to me. Eventually though they decided to turn up and fire a few tear gas grenades to halt the riot. Again though, this only temporarily stopped the problem, rather than them targeting the Russian ring leaders, allowing them to literally fight another day.

That was pretty much it RE the trouble in the centre of Marseille before the game. The lack of police around the ground and indeed inside asks massive questions of what they were playing at- Most England fans had to walk to the ground (a hell of a trek away) as taxis were very scarce and apparently some of the metro lines were on strike. Everyone during the walk to and from the ground was on edge, just waiting for Russians to emerge from one of the many side steers in the 2mile walk to the ground.

The policing In Lille on Wednesday was brilliant, they had a large presence, again in riot gear etc, but allowed us to crack on with singing and chanting and drinking. As far as I'm aware when we left Lille at 10pm there hadn't been a single bit of trouble despite media reports.

Of course there would've been some England fans who were idiots out there and wanted to cause trouble in Marseille but to the best of my knowledge no England fan started anything that I witnessed. As for the ones who retaliated to the Russian attacks, I'm glad they were there as many more fans would've been seriously injured than what are.

I hope our city lad and the Pompey lad pull through

Good read and glad I somehow missed all of this while I was there. We watched the France match in the fan zone then got majorly lost resulting in us walking in a random hotel and asking them to call us a taxi as their were no taxis, buses or metros anywhere to be seen.

We the spend from 10am to 2.45 in the Old Port area having a few beers and food before deciding I would head back to my hotel and get the tickets etc which was a stroke of luck.

Then after the match again there was no transport etc anywhere to be seen so we walked for absolute miles as again no buses, taxis or metros running which was abysmal considering the trouble of the past few days and a genuinely am surprised I didn't get jumped in some of them dark alleys. Police, security and planners all massively at fault there.

[yorkie1999]

The problem now though is that any game in the uk that involves a russian side is going to attract every lunatic and nutcase wanting revenge.

[The Year Of The Fox]

The problem now though is that any game in the uk that involves a russian side is going to attract every lunatic and nutcase wanting revenge.

I'd have no problems with that because our police know how to handle things accordingly

[VLC86]

The problem now though is that any game in the uk that involves a russian side is going to attract every lunatic and nutcase wanting revenge.

The difference is in the UK this won't be allowed.

I'd have no problems with that because our police know how to handle things accordingly

Exactly.

[The Year Of The Fox]

Good read and glad I somehow missed all of this while I was there. We watched the France match in the fan zone then got majorly lost resulting in us walking in a random hotel and asking them to call us a taxi as their were no taxis, buses or metros anywhere to be seen.

We the spend from 10am to 2.45 in the Old Port area having a few beers and food before deciding I would head back to my hotel and get the tickets etc which was a stroke of luck.

Then after the match again there was no transport etc anywhere to be seen so we walked for absolute miles as again no buses, taxis or metros running which was abysmal considering the trouble of the past few days and a genuinely am surprised I didn't get jumped in some of them dark alleys. Police, security and planners all massively at fault there.

The lack of taxis in Marseille was astonishing given its size. Both nights we got lucky with a lift 30 miles back to our campsite. We ended up in a right dodgy Algerian bar where the barman got his mate to give us a lift home for 80 euro. He was sound when he saw my Leicester tattoo and I name dropped Riyad Mahrez into the conversation

The transport on the whole was shocking as you say. Typical French, if they weren't on strike they were closed.

Incidentally, is anyone on here the chap I met in lens on Tuesday and Thursay from Thornton who put an ice cream cone on my head after the game?

[davieG]

Glad to see you're  ok.

[SheppyFox]

It's a disgrace the way the police have behaved in France.

[Harry - LCFC]

After the confusion of the first few days I think it began to filter through that England fans were not the main culprit and were instead being targeted by the Russians.

 

Overall I'd say the media's reporting has reflected what you've told us there.

[m4DD0gg]

Anyone who goes to Russia is asking for serious trouble after reading that. Russian police if you can even call them that will make their French counterparts look like a cross between help the aged and childline

[The Year Of The Fox]

After the confusion of the first few days I think it began to filter through that England fans were not the main culprit and were instead being targeted by the Russians.

Overall I'd say the media's reporting has reflected what you've told us there.

I've not read any printed apologies since though.

And I didn't see it reported anywhere about the England fans the following day heading into Marseille to help the locals tidy the place up

[Sir Shep]

It seems a lot of nations fans are kicking off, United continent my arse.

[ScouseFox]

It seems a lot of nations fans are kicking off, United continent my arse.

it's a competitive sporting event, obviously anyone who wants to win it isn't going to be thinking more about their "united continent" over that.

[Strokes]

It seems a lot of nations fans are kicking off, United continent my arse.

Look I'm all for EU bashing but it's not really relevant here tbh

[Strokes]

It's a good write YOTF and tallys up with a few other personal accounts I have heard. Are you still in France?

[Sir Shep]

Look I'm all for EU bashing but it's not really relevant here tbh

Who said I'm EU bashing, merely stating that there's a lot of nationalism at this tornement so please get that chip off your shoulder.

[Ashley]

I can pretty much vouch for what Stu has said, I was around the corner and he asked me to come to Hard Rock Cafe where a lot of Leicester were drinking that after noon. I was in MARENGO bar Saturday afternoon, sitting outside with another 4 Leicester lads and around 20 Bristol City lads. All drinking nicely banter etc flying around no singing or any sign of trouble. Around half 4 riot vans started to appear and then police jumped out surrounded the bar at this time, we started singing.. as we started singing the Russians came around the corner.. walked past around 10 minutes later we were being ran left right and centre from these Russian lads and some local youths.

Very scary, we managed to get away then lock ourselves into a little cafe on the front where Stu said the barriers had been set up.

How me and my mates got out without being hit ill never know.

[The Year Of The Fox]

It's a good write YOTF and tallys up with a few other personal accounts I have heard. Are you still in France?

No got home yesterday. Back out for the quarters though if we get that far

I can pretty much vouch for what Stu has said, I was around the corner and he asked me to come to Hard Rock Cafe where a lot of Leicester were drinking that after noon. I was in MARENGO bar Saturday afternoon, sitting outside with another 4 Leicester lads and around 20 Bristol City lads. All drinking nicely banter etc flying around no singing or any sign of trouble. Around half 4 riot vans started to appear and then police jumped out surrounded the bar at this time, we started singing.. as we started singing the Russians came around the corner.. walked past around 10 minutes later we were being ran left right and centre from these Russian lads and some local youths.

Very scary, we managed to get away then lock ourselves into a little cafe on the front where Stu said the barriers had been set up.

How me and my mates got out without being hit ill never know.

Yeh four of my mates who are Leicester were in the Marengo bar too at the time I messaged you.