A bus of around 50 Russian supporters was stopped by French riot police, tweeted Alexander Shprygin, the leader of a notoriously far-right Russian supporters’ group, who is also in the bus.
The bus carrying Russian fans is currently in the town of Mandelieu near Cannes.
Shprygin tweeted that the group was refusing to be deported and that the Russian consul and the mayor of Cannes had arrived on the scene.
French authorities could not be reached for comment.
French police had earlier verified the identities of 29 Russians at a hotel near Marseille in the south of France, suspected of being involved in last weekend’s clashes.
Saturday night saw Russian hooligans attack English fans in the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, with more than 30 injured.
The Correctional Court of Marseille handed on Monday a group of 10 supporters: six Britons, three French nationals and an Austrian, prison sentences ranging from suspended six months to two years in prison and bans from France for the foreigners, over charges related to football violence.
However, a group of 150 Russians “responsible for much of the violence in Marseille” escaped arrest, Marseille chief prosecutor Brice Robin said on Monday.
- Suspended disqualification
European football’s governing body accused Russian fans of crowd disturbances, racist behavior and throwing fireworks and missiles.
UEFA gave Russia 150,000-euro fine ($168,500) on Tuesday. UEFA added Russia would be disqualified should similar incidents happen.
- British reinforcement
Britain announced it would send more police to France to help prevent further crowd trouble involving British football fans.
The extra officers “particularly trained in public disorder and issues around football disorder” would be deployed ahead of the Euro 2016 match between England and Wales on Thursday, a spokeswoman for U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told the Daily Mirror.
“We are also responding to a request from the French to provide extra support from the British Transport Police on rail services around Lens which is where Thursday`s game is taking place,” the spokeswoman said.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.
More about:
