STUTTGART, June 24 - Riot police detained around 200 England soccer supporters on Saturday after they clashed with German fans, throwing bottles and chairs and trading punches in a square in the centre of Stuttgart.

Tens of thousands of English and German fans had gathered in the central area, many drinking throughout the day, to watch Germany's 2-0 second-round World Cup win over Sweden on big screen TVs.

England fans were in the city for Sunday's second-round match against Ecuador and trouble broke out shortly after the end of Saturday's German game.

Some 200 fans on both sides threw bottles and chairs before riot police moved into the area to separate them.

After an uneasy standoff, the two sets of fans again threw glass bottles at each other, prompting the riot police to drive the German fans out of the area.

They then moved in to detain the English supporters who were bundled into waiting vans and taken to the local police station in an operation that lasted for several hours.

"The cells will be very busy tonight," Stuttgart police spokesman Stefan Kielbach said.

"It's like a theatre here, and if we don't arrest them there'll be trouble here all night."

He said both sets of fans had been to blame for the violence. Some German supporters were also seen being dragged away by riot police while one German man left the area with blood on his face.

VIOLENT HISTORY

The English have a long history of soccer-related violence but there has been little trouble in Germany so far, with only a small number of arrests for mostly drunken behaviour or people trying to get into a stadium without a ticket.

Page:

1

2