England fans are in Portugal for the Uefa Nations League
Footage has emerged showing Portuguese police charging at England fans in the city of Porto, 24 hours before Gareth Southgate’s side take on the Netherlands in the Uefa Nations League in nearby Guimarães.
A video uploaded to Twitter by the Guardian’s Sean Ingle shows England supporters gathered in a Fan Zone in one of the city’s squares, close to a gathering of police in riot gear.
Ingle’s tweet claims bottles were thrown at the police by some of the English supporters. In response, the police – to the cheers of some local onlookers – charge, striking out with batons.
Kicking off at Fan Zone after England fans throw bottles at police and police respond by charging at England fans … police cheered on by locals pic.twitter.com/yTGnqAiB3d
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) June 5, 2019
Other footage shows people moving away from the area after the police charged.
Just landed in Porto for the UEFA Nations League… England fans clashing with riot police already pic.twitter.com/854etF4AKH
— Oz Katerji (@OzKaterji) June 5, 2019
Further tweets have claimed the area of the Fan Zone had since been claimed by the police following the trouble.
England are due to take on the Netherlands in Guimarães on Thursday night. These scenes, however, will raise concerns ahead of that game.
This isn’t the first time in recent months that England supporters have clashed with foreign police. Last October there were similar incidents ahead of the Three Lions’ game with Spain in Seville.
