Watch: Protests outside Villa Park ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League match

Warning: This livefeed playback may contain offensive language and scenes viewers may find distressing.

Watch as hundreds of protestors and counter-protesters held demonstrations outside of Villa Park during Aston Villa’s match against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Demonstrators were already stationed outside the stadium hours before kick off on Thursday (6 November), with many wielding flags, signs and banners.

Multiple groups, including Palestine Solidarity Campaign had called for the match to be cancelled, with a petition launched by the group calling for the game to be scrapped reaching over 26,000 signatures.

The group claims that Maccabi Tel Aviv has been directly involved in Israel’s war on Gaza by sending “care packages” to Israeli soldiers serving in the military.

Last month, fans of the Israeli team were banned from attending the Europa League away match due to safety worries. West Midlands Police raised concern to the city council about its ability to deal with potential protests.

The force classified the game as “high risk”, following “violent clashes and hate crime offences” that occurred around their Europa League match against Ajax in Amsterdam last year.

It was granted section 60 stop-and-search powers and plan to deploy more than 700 officers around Villa Park to deal with potential unrest, with six arrests made.