England fans try to escape as Russian fans attack them at the end of their Euro 2016 opener in Marseille Credit: Getty Images 
One of Britain’s leading experts on hooliganism and football crowd control, who witnessed this week’s events in Marseille first-hand, says the violence was worse than in the same city in 1998 and that the French police tactics meant they lost control of the situation.
Dr Geoff Pearson, a senior lecturer in criminal law at Manchester University who was present during the Marseille riots of 1998 and in Charleroi at Euro 2000, said that the converging factors at play in France this summer have taken the dangers to a whole new level. Pearson has been highly critical in the past of French police, claiming that unlike other European forces they have not moved on from outdated crowd control methods which often make the situation worse.
Russian fans broke through a thin line of stewards at full-time Credit: Getty Images He said: “This is developing into the most serious incident of violence and disorder that I have ever seen and that would include Charleroi 2000 and Marseille 1998. To me it was worse. The fact that the Russian ultras group were involved and there was disorder in the stadium. It makes it worse than I was expecting, which is quite incredible.”
Pearson was based at O’Malley’s bar in the Old Port area of Marseille on Saturday afternoon and witnessed the arrival of the Russian ultras who attacked England fans and caused havoc all over the city. He also saw one incident on the way to the Stade Velodrome in which plain-clothed police officers, unencumbered by the heavy body armour, helmets and shields worn by the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) force were able to offer crucial protection for England fans threatened by Russian ultras.
The Russian football union (RFU) was charged by Uefa today for crowd disturbances, racism and setting off fireworks but Pearson says that the situation will only be resolved by a fundamental shift in the attitude of the French police. Both the FA and the RFU have been told by Uefa its teams could face disqualification if fan behaviour does not improve.
An England fan is attacked by a Russian supporter in the Stade Velodrome Credit: Peter Powell In most of Europe now, including Britain, the modern tactic is not to wear riot gear from the off but to begin by engaging with the crowd, resolving individual issues and arresting and taking away safely any individual who break the law. Pearson said the “carnival atmosphere” among England fans on Saturday in the Old Port area of Marseille started to change around 3pm when bottles was thrown in what looked like an attempt by local gangs to antagonise English supporters.
“Some English threw bottles back and the police moved back into view,” he said. “In the context of what happened [in the week], a police officer with a shield had become a target. Until the first intervention they made, that wouldn’t have been the case. The evidence shows that if police don’t wear helmets and shields, crowds don’t throw bottles. They [the police] got it so wrong it made you wonder if the outcome was what they wanted.
“If they wanted to do it right it is difficult to see how they could have done it any worse. After that it became your classic crowd escalation. With every next bottle thrown an extra canister of tear gas was fired and it degenerated so quickly. When you thought it couldn’t get any worse the Russian ultras arrived, 100-150 of them, organised and running around the back streets attacking English fans.
Russian thugs run amok in the Old Port in Marseille Credit: Julian Simmonds “At this point the police have been shown to be strategically incompetent and now it becomes worse because they are operationally ineffective … they do not have the right gear, the lack of intelligence suddenly means they are outmanoeuvred and out-thought by this group of Russians and they cannot provide protection – whether they want to or not.
“The anger from the England fans I spoke to towards the police for their failure to protect them was amazing. It is not to suggest that there were not 300-400 England fans who were actively involved and up for a fight with the Russians. I reckon there were 40,000 England supporters in Marseille, which is not to say they had all come from England. In 1998 there were 45,000. It was a similar minority who were getting involved. Your average England fan was in fear for their lives.”
Pearson said a potentially very dangerous clash at the roundabout by the Castellane metro station, with English fans trapped inside a pub by a group of 30-40 Russian ultras was defused by decisive police tactics from just four plain-clothed officers.
England supporters also threw bottles and clashed with police Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images “The English fled into the pub. There were maybe five or six saying to stand up and fight and I thought the Russian group was going to turn over the pub. Then an unmarked police car screeched up and four plain-clothed officers jumped out with a shield and a baton. Two of them threw CS grenades at the Russians.
“They exploded in front of the Russians and the smoke drifted back to the bars but it kept the Russians on the other side of the street. Those four officers showed that they could stop the Russians on their own – those Russians were manageable.”
The fear is that English fans staying in Lille, as per police advice, ahead of Thursday’s game against Wales in nearby Lens will again encounter Russian ultras who will be based there for their match against Slovakia. “They [police] can try to identify the Russian ultras and keep them in one place,” Pearson said. “If the CRS can’t control them and protect law abiding citizens with battle armour and shields and water cannon, what’s the point of having that stuff?”