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(17 Jun 2000) English/Nat

The town of Charleroi in Belgium is bracing itself for Saturday night's England-Germany tie in the Euro 2000 football tournament.

Police fear that violence could break out ahead of the match, following Friday night's riots in Brussels which left 22 injured and resulted in 374 arrests.

On Saturday, the force in Charleroi issued a stark warning that it would not tolerate even "a hint of trouble."

Police plan to keep the 374 English fans in jail until well after Saturday's high-risk Euro 2000 match before sending them back to Britain.

Friday night's riots began with racist-incited violence between English fans and local north African immigrants.

The street fighting between the fans was sparked by racial and ethnic slurs made at a bar near the historic neoclassical Grand Place of Brussels early on Friday evening.

A concentration of English hooligans started insulting some North African women.

According to the town's mayor, rumours then spread that English supporters had physically molested these women, and trouble began.

In a press conference on Saturday, Brussels' Mayor said he was pleased with the way police handled the situation.

He also described the behaviour of the English fans as 'disgusting'.

There was also scattered violence in Charleroi where one English fan was stabbed in the chest.

His life was not in danger.

The violence brought condemnation from UEFA Chief executive Gerhard Aigner, who spoke out against what he described as a "small minority who are trying to undermine this celebration" of soccer at Euro 2000.

Aigner called for "swift action" against all those involved.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
(Question: Were you satisfied with the police response?)
"Very very satisfied. I think the police were very efficient. They were able to arrest the hardest trouble makers very quickly as soon as the trouble began. It took only a few minutes to arrest them. So, I think that we have done what should be done, and I would stress again, that no hooligan was hurt by the police."
SUPER CAPTION: Francois Xavier de Donnea, Brussels Mayor

SOUNDBITE: (English)
(Reporter question) "Can you sum up what you think of the behaviour of the English fans last night?"
"Disgusting"
(Reporter question) "And do you expect there to be more trouble tonight?"
"Well, I think we have arrested some of the hard core and some of the hardest leaders, at least that is what the British police officer who was liaison officer here last night told us."
SUPER CAPTION: Francois Xavier de Donnea, Brussels' Mayor

SOUNDBITE: (French)
"Arrests: in total 354 British fans - hooligans - were arrested. Among the 354, thirty-one of them are undergoing criminal proceedings and two of them have been detained for further examination. Yet the 29 remaining will, of course, be referred to the courts. The rest of the 341 are undergoing administrative proceedings and will be deported from the country later. They will be kept in detention centres in the provinces outside Brussels to be deported on Monday morning."
SUPER CAPTION: Van Reusel, Brussels Police Chief

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