DENMARK: FOOTBALL HOOLIGANS 2

(17 May 2000) Natural Sound

An English football fan was stabbed in Copenhagen during running battles between fans of Galatasaray and Arsenal, less than 24 hours before the two football clubs meet in the UEFA Cup final.

Bottles and glasses were thrown and traffic stopped as fans chased each other around the streets of the historic Danish capital.

There were injuries and arrests as the situation escalated out of control after Turkish fans had repeatedly attacked bars with a British or Irish connection.

A mob of Arsenal supporters led resistance to the Turkish attacks and chaos erupted around the Radhuspladsen square.

An English fan was stabbed in the confusion.

The man – thought to be in his late 20s or early 30s – was attacked outside a pub in the busy square.

It was not known whether a knife or bottle was used but the injured man slumped to the ground as rival fans fought a running battle.

When a lull developed in the fighting he received extensive treatment on the road in a main thoroughfare leading off the square.

Concerned Arsenal fans knelt on the ground around him as an ambulance came to take him away.

The trouble had begun late in the evening when a mob surrounded a disco bar called the Absalom in a side-street leading off the square.

Riot police moved in quickly, trapping the Arsenal fans in the bar and driving back the Turks.

Their aggression then switched to the other side of the large square as they attacked a bar called the Scottish Pub, and one fan hurled a glass at its doors as police again quickly intervened.

There followed a further attack on the Absalom, and with the situation still unresolved a gang of 40 Arsenal fans advanced towards their Turkish rivals and a confrontation quickly broke out.

The fans chased each other across the centre of the square and an attack broke out on a bar and restaurant called Rosie McGee’s.

All hell broke loose as missiles of all kinds were thrown by Turks at the bar and returned by the English who had rushed to its doors.

Bottles, glasses and bicycles flew through the night air as the battle raged.

Again police were quickly on the scene, and officers in full riot gear interposed themselves between the warring factions and officers with dogs finally brought the fighting to an end.

It was then that the injury to the Arsenal fan became apparent and concern grew over how serious it might be.

Police in Copenhagen said that, so far, they knew of six or seven arrests and five or six people taken to hospital but they could give no breakdown by nationality.

The clashes came a month after two Leeds United fans were stabbed to death in Istanbul last month on the eve of the first-leg of the semi-final with Galatasaray.

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