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| July 01, 2006 | Saturday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 4, 1427 |
British police chief confident of peaceful tie
GELSENKIRCHEN, June 30: The head of a British police team working in Germany said on Friday he was confident there would be no trouble from England fans in Gelsenkirchen as the supporters were spread out over a large area.
Over 500 England fans were detained in Stuttgart before their side's second-round match against Ecuador in the town's main square following clashes with German supporters and riot police.
But in Gelsenkirchen, the venue for Saturday's quarter-final match against Portugal, the fans are spread over several miles, in the town centre, camp sites and fan park areas.
“Our supporters will be spread over the region, rather than being in one area,” Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Thomas told a press conference. “I think that's a good thing because it will avoid the scenes we saw in Stuttgart.
“We won't see the repeat of those incidents here,” he said before praising the supporters.
Some 70,000 England supporters are expected to descend on the industrial city for the match.—Reuters
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