Euro 2016 hooligan crackdown as Brit cop tells fans to shop yobs on their phones
Louts face bans from grounds and could be stopped from travelling in tough new rules
BRITAIN’S EURO 2016 police chief kicked off soccer’s toughest ever hooligan crackdown yesterday - and called on fans to use their cameraphones to shop yobs.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Roberts – who will lead Britain’s police operation at the French tournament – said a special data bank will be set up to harvest damning footage.
He is asking genuine supporters to film violent, racist or homophobic behaviour and send video to police enabling troublemakers to be identified and prosecuted.
Mr Roberts also revealed plain-clothed police spotters will nick rowdy fans and ban them from travelling if they misbehave at UK ports and airports on their way to games.
Yobs will be prevented from boarding flights and ferries and hauled before UK courts the next day to be slapped with travel bans.
French police on maximum alert after the Paris terror attacks have also warned they are in no mood to tolerate thuggery, the top cop said.
His stern warnings came as he estimated a staggering HALF A MILLION English, Welsh and Northern Irish fans will cross the channel in June.
ACC Roberts told The Sun: “It is not going to be a tournament where bad behaviour is tolerated in any way, shape or form.
There will be a big effort to make sure only the only right people travel
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Roberts
“French authorities have a lot to deal with and you can fully understand why they will stand for no nonsense.
“The vast majority of fans of England, Wales and Northern Ireland are decent folk and we would welcome their support in rooting out troublemakers..
“If they see bad behaviour - be it violent, racist or discriminatory - if that footage is fed into us we will act upon it. It’s a great tool for us.
”We will give fans directions how to get their footage in to us depending on the scale of incidents, but there will definitely be a dedicated portal.
“So much is captured on camera phones it’s important that we have systems in place to manage it.
“A dedicated investigation team drawn from across the country will then use footage in an effective way to secure banning orders.”
Four Chelsea fans were banned from football matches for pushing a black commuter off a Paris Metro train last year while chanting: “We’re racist, we’re racist, and that’s the way we like it.”
They were identified by camera phone footage shot by an outraged onlooker after a Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germain Champions League match.
Sentencing them to banning orders, Judge Gareth Branston described their behaviour as “abhorrent, nasty, offensive, arrogant and utterly unacceptable”.
ACC Roberts said: “The incident involving Chelsea fans was captured on social media and as a result we were able to seek banning orders against the people involved.
“If it is a larger incident we will give clear instructions but we have already appointed a senior officer very familiar with such investigations.
“There’s no question that social media evidence like this could be very useful to us during the tournament and we want real fans to help us make the most of it.”
ACC Mark Roberts said he expected record numbers of fans from the three qualified British nations to travel to France.
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He told the Sun: "There were 350,000 England fan journeys to the 2006 World Cup in Germany so with France being even closer and travel being even easier we’re looking at up to half a million people.
“That’s potentially the biggest migration of England fans ever and with Wales taking at least 50,000 and Northern Ireland fans travelling as well, numbers will be even greater.
“They’re huge figures but we need to make the point that the vast majority of fans will be focussed on having a good time and behaving well.
“But with such large numbers we also have to be cautious, particularly where drink is involved.”
England’s first game is a potential powder keg clash with Russia - whose fans are infested with violent neo Nazi thugs - in Marseille.
The last time England played there, mayhem erupted when England thugs ran riot before the first game of the France 98 World Cup against Tunisia.
French CRS police riot teams are already training to deal with the arrival of at least 30,000 English fans.
Roy Hodgson’s men’s second game is an even more explosive “local derby” encounter with Wales in the northern city of Lens, certain to attract even more fans than the curtain raiser.
But the city’s Bollaert-Delelis Stadium has a capacity of just 34,000 sparking fears of clashes between English and Welsh rivals in the back street bars of the city centre.
Around 2,000 British soccer yobs are currently the subject of banning orders which will require them to surrender their passports before the start of the tournament in June.
A huge operation to watch for suspected troublemakers leaving the country will also swing into gear before the big kick off.
ACC Roberts said: “There will be a big effort to make sure only the only right people travel but with half a million people going it’s going to be a major operation.
“If we feel a fan’s behaviour at an airport is such that they are going to cause trouble abroad, we have the power to put them before a court and ban them from travelling.
“They will be stopped from leaving the airport and summonsed to appear before a court, probably the next day.
“It is not a power we use lightly but it is a power we will use if it is felt necessary.”
Plain clothed police spotters will be deployed to mingle among crowds and may be backed by uniformed British bobbies deployed to France.
ACC Roberts also warned travelling fans to be wary of French police who will give yobs short shrift to allow them to focus on vital anti-terrorist duties.
He said: “In France at the moment security is being taken massively seriously for all manner of reasons, not least the terrorist threat,
“With what France has gone through in recent times you can imagine there will not be a great deal of tolerance of poor behaviour.
“Fans misbehaving can expect a robust police response and the French will be keen to put people before the courts.
“Then once they return to England or Wales they will also be given banning orders and stopped from travelling in future."
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