England and Germany soccer fans clash in Stuttgart city centre.[Reuters]

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 yesterday'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.

Banning orders issued before the tournament began prevented some 3,700 known trouble makers from travelling to Germany.

However 122 people were detained in Stuttgart on Friday night for drunken and aggressive behaviour and they were expected to be held until the game yesterday had been played.

Under German law police can detain individuals for threatening behaviour or if they suspect they are likely to commit a crime and it does not constitute a full arrest.

Those held in Stuttgart on Saturday were also detained under preventative orders.

Earlier, Germany had beaten Sweden in Munich to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

Source: China Daily