Lille Hooligans Target Peaceful Everton Fans
Violence ensued in the city centre of Lille on Wednesday night, prior to the Europea League engagement between Lille and Everton in an unprovoked assault by what the dailymail.co.uk stated was a group of “100 hooligans”. Everton fans were the victims of the assault after the Liverpool v Madrid match on Wednesday night as out of no inspiration, the group of hooligans began to attack the Toffee supporters under no circumstance – police were said to arrive on the scene quickly, but ambushed what looked like a riot erupting in the city centre. The team were covered with shields, helmets and clubs – they were also reported to be using rubber bullets and tear gas for no proper reason.
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Reporter Greg O’Keeffe explained to liverpoolecho.co.uk that the Everton supporters did not insinuate a riot or violence of any kind, here is his take on what happened Wednesday night:
“In the evening they watched the Liverpool game and towards the end of that match it happened. It was bad. The Lille hooligans just appeared from the Place Louise de Bettignies across the road, from a side street, and just ran at the pub. There were some Everton fans outside smoking and they got caught cold. The hooligans picked up chairs we had stacked up outside and attacked them while others used them to smash windows and try to get inside.”
“We had to try and stop the Everton supporters inside from getting out to help because it would have got far worse. I went out to try and drag them in. The doorman said that police were on the scene quickly, but began to use CS gas sprays indiscriminately on both the Lille hooligans and their victims. Some of the Everton fans were trying to explain,” he added. “They were saying ‘There are children inside,” but the police were swearing at them and wouldn’t listen. I saw them spray one Everton fan for no reason. He was just trying to reason with them.”
This is not the first time hooliganism has happened in France in recent times, in Paris St Germain’s first leg victory over Chelsea in the Champions League, Chelsea fans were attacked by Parisian hooligans in the same unprovoked manner . According to the website the standard.co.uk , Paris St Germain supporters fought Chelsea supporters, who dually destroyed shops in the city.
To add to the maddness, Chelsea headhunters were stated to have “entered France via Belgium to avoid detection by police”.The Chelsea headhunters, like the Lille supporters went to the match for the sheer reason of seeking violence -the difference being the reciprocation by the Parisians.
Its despicable that this sort of behaviour still exists – fans going out of their way to enforce fear and violence on peaceful supporters who are normally not their rivals. On top of this, avoiding suspicion by ducking the police in attempt to live out their violent plans.
Football is not about this – it is about unity, as it is a team sport, why does one think that captain’s exchange hand shakes and crests prior to a match?Because the sport is universal it attracts many people, unfortunately some fans bring the wrong kind of energy to matches – ruining the safety of fans and supporters alike.