English football supporters were reputed to be the most aggressive fans in the world before they visited Moscow.
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
English Fans Suffer a Series of Defeats
// Moscow greets English fans with fists
Several English football fans were severely beaten and robbed in Moscow on Wednesday. Two of them were taken to the Botkin Hospital. More clashes were reported in the city center in the afternoon. The Moscow police believe that the English are to blame for the attacks as they “behaved aggressively, went to pubs and clubs and provoked locals to fight”. The British Embassy in Russia hopes for a fair investigation of the crimes.
More than a dozen of English fans were attacked on Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon. Almost all attacks followed the same patters. Drunken English fans were attacked and violently beaten as they were leaving pubs or clubs. Two men were taken to the Botkin Hospital with brain injuries to be discharged Wednesday afternoon but were not recommended to go the Russia vs. England match. A Kommersant source in the Moscow police said there may have been more incidents but not all victims went to the police.
Neil Fowset, Mitchell Howe and Peter Bental were beaten by an unknown gang at 9.40 pm on October 16 in the subway pass in Prospekt Mira. They left the VDNKh metro station and were heading for the Kosmos hotel where they were staying. One of the Englishmen managed to escape and call the hotel’s security. The three fans were taken to the Botkin Hospital, one of them stayed there overnight.
Intoxicated fan Andrew Fisley was beaten and robbed at 11.00 pm the same night in Novy Arbat near the Praga restaurant. An unknown man took his bag with money and ID. 38-year-old Chris Harrison was found in Kolobovsky Pereulok, taken to hospital and then to his hotel at the same time. At 11.50 pm, 33-year-old Steven Wathey was severely beaten in Novy Arbat. A suspect of the crime was detained but his name is not disclosed.
At 3.30 am, another Englishman was admitted to the Botkin Hospital with a brain injury. Five minutes later, a 30-year-old highly intoxicated English fan was taken to a police station with a cheek-bone injury and bruises. He said he had been beaten in the Skromnoye Obayanie Burzhuazii cafe in Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, but was unable to recall and describe the attackers.
Another incident occurred in Tverskaya Street on Wednesday afternoon. A Kommersant source in the Moscow police say a dozen black-clad teenagers attacked three English fans who were leaving a bar. The unknown attackers were fiercely beating the English with hands and feet for more than a minute and later hid in courtyards. The police and ambulance soon arrived to provide the first aid. The Ekho Moskvy radio reported another fight Wednesday afternoon in a bar in Novy Arbat where table, chairs and tankard were used. The police said that they found no traces of a fight in the venue and no witnesses to testify.
Only those English fans who went to Moscow on a program by the British Council and the Russian Football Union felt secure. They joined British Ambassador Anthony Brenton near the Kremlin wall to lay a white-read wreath of carnations onto the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. Later, they took a walk around the Historical Museum and the Kremlin, met Moscow pupils and took pictures with Russian fans.
Russian fan associations deny any involvement in the attacks. “We have been preparing for the match in Luzhniki since the early morning, and we don’t know who may have attacked the Englishmen,” said Ivan Katanaev, head of Spartak FC’s fan group.
The Moscow police say the victims of the attacks are to blame. “They don’t know the city well, and still they went to pubs and clubs to get drunk, behaved aggressively and provoked locals for fights,” said Evgeny Gildeev, spokesman for the Moscow branch of the Interior Ministry. He added that the police had to taken a lot of drunken Brits to their hotels so that they did not fall prey to Russian fans. The British Embassy in Russia told Kommersant that it hopes for “a fair investigation of the conflicts”. “We have been informed of several victims in the past 24 hours,” said the mission’s presser James Barbour. “We know that some of them have been hospitalized.”
Andrey Kozenko
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 18, 2007
|
|
|
