England supporters who attacked officers after last night’s Euro 2020 final defeat are “thugs not fans”, the Metropolitan Police Federation has said.
The body, which represents thousands of London’s police officers, tweeted: “These people should be ashamed of themselves.
“They are not fans. They are thugs. We wish our injured colleagues well.”
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England fans and police in London’s Piccadilly Circus
The Met Police said 19 officers were injured when they “confronted volatile crowds” in the capital after the game and 49 people had been arrested for a “variety of offences”.
Police said some people in the capital had been “jumping off street lamps or hoardings”, something officers warned “could easily end in injury”.
Earlier on Sunday, fans were pictured in London’s Leicester Square throwing bottles and road cones, leaving the area littered with rubbish.
Broken glass and beer bottles were also strewn across the ground outside Wembley.
Clean-up operations were well under way in the capital by 7.30am following the huge mess left by football fans, with only a handful of diehard England supporters remaining around Leicester Square.
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The scene in central London after England lost the Euro 2020 final on penalties to Italy
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Bins were kicked over in Piccadilly Circus following the match
Teams of street cleaners worked overnight to clear away the trail of beer bottles and cans left in their wake as crowds of dejected fans slowly trickled out of central London.
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Workers continue to clean up the mess football fans left in central London on Monday morning
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Nice and clean: Leicester Square looked pristine before 8am on Monday after an overnight clean-up
Before kick-off, more than 100 ticketless fans broke through security barriers at Wembley to get into the stadium while there were reports of match stewards being abused.
Footage showed people jumping over walls and running towards the stadium to gain access, with police on a manhunt to track down those who got in without tickets.
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Fans were captured breaking through security barriers at Wembley
Some people with booked seats could not sit in them as ticketless fans were in their place, as others stood in gangways to get a glimpse of the game.
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England fans involved in a confrontation with Italian fans in central London
Sonny Stockford and his son Samuel, speaking to Sky News, said they had tickets but their view was obstructed by ticketless fans who were lined up in multiple rows in front of them.
“You’ve got a mass of people that have rushed in and they have got no seats, and they are stood in front of you, lined up”, Mr Stockford said.
“The security would do nothing about it. I went to security and spoke to seven different people, I asked people with radios to contact people.
“They all came back and said the same thing: ‘We don’t have enough staff, we can’t do anything about it.’
“I said to them this was one of the biggest security risks you could ever wish to see, and what are you going to do? You can’t leave hundreds of people in aisles and in seats that cannot get in or out, this is not acceptable.”
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Football fans arrive at Wembley ahead of the final against Italy
The security operation around the match has since come under fire, with the Football Association chief executive, Mark Bullingham, telling BBC Radio Four’s Today programme: “We will do a full review and we will work with the police to catch anyone involved and make sure we can prevent it ever happening again.
“Anyone caught will obviously be banned and have the right action taken against them.”
He said some “drunken yobs” had tried to force their way in, adding: “We run a stadium, not a fortress. We have got a fantastic security team at the stadium and they had never seen anything like it.”
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Police try to control crowds in central London following Italy’s win
There were also scuffles and clashes with officers throughout central London where people gathered in large crowds to watch the match, including at Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.
Addressing unruly and violent fan behaviour, England manager Gareth Southgate said he and his team “can’t control that”.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, he said: “We can only set the example that we believe we should and represent the country in a way we feel we should when representing England.
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Gareth Southgate said he and his squad ‘can’t control’ fan behaviour
“Everyone has to remember when they support the team that they are also representing England and they should represent what we stand for.”
He continued: “The players have done that brilliantly and we can only continue to try to affect the things we can. We have had, I think, had a positive effect on lots of areas of society but we can’t affect everything.
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Some people in the capital had been jumping off street lamps or hoardings, police said
“Other people have responsibilities in those areas. We’ve got to work collectively to improve those things.”
Junior minister Edward Argar told Sky News that these fans do not represent the majority of supporters.
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England supporters stand against a line of officers in Piccadilly Circus
“The police did, I think, a fantastic job – they know what they are doing, they know how to operationally police events.
“It is sad when a very small number of people, a tiny minority, bring the sport into disrepute by trying to do something like this.”
https://news.sky.com/story/theyre-thugs-not-fans-met-police-federation-condemns-england-supporters-after-officer-attacks-12354076
