NUREMBERG, Germany - Peace returned to the World Cup on Thursday.
Drunk with delirium after their team's tense 2-0 win over Trinidad and
Tobago, England fans celebrated peacefully with dancing in the streets and howls
of joy and relief.
It was the kind of post-game mood German and British police had hoped for and
eased, at least for now, concerns about the continuation of fan-police clashes
that resulted in more than 400 arrests Wednesday in the city of Dortmund.
Police reported little trouble following Thursday's game, which England won
with two late goals.
About a dozen people were arrested for scuffling and one was arrested for
giving a Nazi salute, deputy police chief Mark Huennemeyer said. Overall,
however, "It's actually been a quiet night."
Quiet except for shirtless England fans' singing and chanting "England" in a
city center suddenly adorned with English flags. As many yelled, some lined up
at pay phones to call home and share their glee or posed for pictures with
Trinidad fans.
All the while, police stood at periphery, some wearing flack jackets.
German officers had worked with their British counterparts to control the
tens of thousands of British fans in town.
The threat of hooliganism has been an off-the-field focus of the monthlong
World Cup, and England's supporters have been among the most violent at major
tournaments in Europe. In preparation, British authorities confiscated passports
of known hooligans and Germans drew up extensive policing plans.
While much of the focus was on the English, Dutch and Polish, it was Germans
who broke the tournament's opening calm before their team's 1-0 win over Poland
in Dortmund.
When officers tried to apprehend a group of men they described as hardcore
hooligans, the men responded by throwing bottles and chairs and shooting
fireworks, police chief Hans Schulz said. More than 100 Germans were arrested in
that incident and 429 in the city overall, including 119 Poles, police said.
By Thursday afternoon, all had been released.
Tournament organizers lamented that the clash occurred near the stadium where
special guests included a French policeman who was beaten into a
life-threatening coma by German thugs at the 1998 World Cup in France.
Also late Wednesday in the northern port city of Bremerhaven, police used
tear gas to disperse people threw bottles into a crowd that was watching the
game in a public viewing area, police spokesman Uwe Mikloweit said. Several fans
were slightly injured; five people received written summons.