How a midweek tie turned into a 'scene from hell'
Police accused of ignoring website posts arranging clashes that saw fan stabbed
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Independent Minds
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A man hit by a bottle during running battles close to Upton Park receives treatment from medical staff
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Shoaib Akhtar realised West Ham's match against Millwall was going to be a night to remember – for the worst reasons – when he looked out of his kebab shop window and saw a bloodied fan uprooting a concrete bollard to hurl into a crowd of screaming rivals.
What started as a normal, midweek Carling Cup tie, with Hammers supporters crowding into the take-away 500 metres from the Boleyn Ground before kick-off, had within 10 minutes become what one witness described as a "scene from hell". "These guys looked and behaved like they wanted to kill each other," he added.
The rampage outside Upton Park Tube station on Green Street, the multicultural thoroughfare that leads to the stadium, was merely the opening salvo in nearly six hours of violence inside and outside the ground on Tuesday night. It drew comparisons with the football hooliganism of the 1970s and 1980s, and yesterday prompted allegations that police and officials had dropped their guard for a pre-arranged clash between two sets of fans with a century-long history of mutual hatred and drink-fuelled barbarity.
With broken glass and pieces of brick still littering the street, Mr Akhtar, 37, said: "It was like someone fired a starting pistol. They were just animals."
Scotland Yard said it was using a specialist team to identify from CCTV footage the perpetrators of the clashes inside and outside the ground. The Football Association promised life bans for anyone involved.
Messages left on websites and chatrooms, apparently by members of notorious hooligan "firms" associated with the two clubs, showed that the tie had been identified as an opportunity for a showdown between the rival groups, whose teams are separated by two divisions and last played each other in 2005. One message advised: "Make sure you bring your bats and don't bring your kids."
Another message posted on Monday on the West Ham fans forum, Bubble Blowers, laid out plans to rendezvous with a hard core of the 2,300-strong Millwall contingent, saying: "Heartfelt message to all concerned. PLEASE be in the right place at the right time tomorrow. No fucking excuses. We can all hang our head in shame if we let any of those cunts even think they can take liberties."
Senior police admitted they were aware of plans for a brawl but insisted they were adequately prepared for the match, which was designated "category five", with the highest risk of hooliganism. Chief Superintendent Steve Wisbey, the officer in charge of policing the game, said the violence was limited to a small number of supporters.
But witnesses found this difficult to square with the events that ultimately required the presence of more than 700 riot police, and whose aftermath left one man stabbed in the chest, 13 people arrested and dozens of fans bloodied and bruised. Among those treated at the scene was a man who was hit in the head with a dart. After the initial skirmish outside the Tube station, splinter groups of supporters roamed surrounding streets looking for a confrontation as the match was being played. A 43-year-old man, reportedly an innocent bystander, was in a stable condition in hospital last night after he was knifed in the chest during these clashes.
In a statement on their official website, West Ham said they were investigating the "appalling events" at the Boleyn Ground to ensure appropriate was action taken as swiftly as possible, with life bans for anyone behind the disturbances. The chief executive, Scott Duxbury, said: "We will leave no stone unturned in identifying the perpetrators, rooting them out and then taking the proper action. The vast majority of people at the game were law-abiding, loyal football fans and a small minority spoiled it for everyone. They will not be allowed to succeed."
But his words fell on deaf ears among some of those involved. Jonny, a Millwall supporter who said he saw the violence but did not take part, told The Independent: "I'm delighted. The best thing that came out of last night was the reignition of the hatred between us. Shame it can't be like that every week."
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Comments
Society doesn't need this white trash rabble, let them auto cull I say.
Why should the Police be diverted away from more important tasks to deal with this rabble ? Same with the great unwashed at the so called " climate change " camp.
Wasters.
At least it is just about football and nothing else.
Why be so shocked, England has a long history of rioting going back to the middle ages ?
Not that it is right that bare-chested thugs should roam the streets with all that raw unmitigated violence.
And of course should be brought before the courts.
Just an explanation not a justification.
They do not fight "amongst themselves" - what a quaint middle class view you all have.
They don't all get into a boxing ring and slug it out.
They attack groups of supporters of the other team - regardless of what the other fans are doing.
They throw bricks and bottles and they really don;t care who gets hit.
They smash shops and cars - so it isn't a little bit of "fisticuffs between the chaps".
These are neanderthals - knuckles dragging along the ground - communicating with grunts
and swear words - with no respect for others.
humble_sparrow - talks about a history of rioting.
All the riots I have ever read about - before football ritos - were for political and social causes, broadly, poor people demanding an improvement in their life. Many of those can be shown to
be caused by troops showing excessive aggression. It was not considered"right" for the lower classes
to demand any change in society.
Any apologist who thinks the police cause the riots is a mendacious fool.
The police hold back far too much - what is the point of getting dressed like a
Hollywood film SWAT team - and then standing a long way awya from the "action" ?
Not that I really know anything about having to confront or deal with such violence.
Apparently there is a social history that surrounds these riots.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot
Not a justification just an explanation.
To the knuckle draggers who think hitting people with bricks is entertainment, then the film was laughable. Look at 'Jonnys comments above, obviously a moron who thinks 'hatred' is cool - so this is level you're dealing with. Pond life.
But for football violence, they are woefully under-prepared.
I think they're "policing" the wrong people.
However, it is just a game. Maybe its because I am a rugby man at heart, but I have never felt the urge to beat the crap out of someone becuause of the colour of their shirt. I am a Welshman, where there is a huge parocial attitude to team support, Ospreys v Lllanelli, Wales v England, Wales v NZ in the rugby is a war - on the pitch and with the banter - not with knives, bats and fists.
This is just stupid and saddening, and that idiot Jonny should be handed over to the police and locked away for a very long time.
Believe it or not these people have a code of honor and conduct existential debates albeit of a simplistic sort.
Those of you who want to segregate, to differentiate, to appear successful you had better reexamine your values in front of a very clean mirror. Ask yourselves whether all your wants and illicit desires ensconced in the pleats of your upper cortex have anything to do with the behavior displayed by these people you so obviously disdain.
Believe it or not these people are more innocent than your sophisticated self. They are the ones who lay their blood on the line in order to promote Britain's "glory" in world and satisfy your middle of no-where vanity.
Finally believe it or not had these people had the same start in life with same opportunities as you they would be just as a nice and civilized as your pristine selves. Ask yourselves when in the near future are you planning to push the head of the next man even further into the mud so that you will appear even more brilliant to your moronic peers. But my guess is that you lack the testicles for such self examination.
shut up yank and go eat 16 big mac's
Throughout a two-hour train journey they openly and loudly boasted about how many times they had been arrested by Police in Britain and by various Police Forces in European countries for violent behaviour. Having heard and experienced such people at close quarters, this sorry saga of ignorance and vicious violence does not surprise me one bit.
I thank you
Firozali A Mulla