City fans rushed by Spanish Police

[dazng]

Also in the plaza mayor my son kicked the ball away when the cops was about to get it and then was used as a pinball getting thrown about by 6 twats.

I saw that mate. That was the first I'd seen of the police, pushing your lad around and then forming into a line in the square as if to say 'this is our space, don't enter it'. All that coming because the City fans had been having a laugh with the ball for a couple of hours.

Tossers

I was Plaza Major having a meal and a few beers with my wife (the quiet side), we decided to have a look round the square, as we left the restaurant 6 police were standing in one of the arched entrance's so we had no option but to walk through them which resulted in a dig to the ribs. I couldn't believe it I'm only 5'4" with my wife, vitally sober and minding our own business "totally uncalled for".

 

[Wheresthepies]

I was in the square but left before the incidents there - I noticed the police showing "force" if you like at one point they came into the square on horses and rode between the fans which was uncalled for to say the least - they also had scooters, bikes and cars in the square making a nuisence of themselves - but as soon as the TWO balls were getting kicked around the square I thought this is going to lead to trouble - high spirited and no mal intention on behalf of any blues kicking said balls - but - I saw the balls on at least 5/6 occasions hit people in the face with some force and actually knock a full table over - this does not justify what was an over the top response - but we could see it was bound to happen - not sure who he was but after the game I looked after a young blue who's mother was on the phone panicing that he had been involved in being hit by battons and his face was marked I am only guessing but from what he said I think it may have been the incident with the police I escorted him away from the Police and the "ultras" where he met up with a few friends to go for another beer - if you read this hope your fine and rang your mother to tell her you were ok

I must reinforce I did not see the incidents talked about but the police presence was oppressive and threatening plus of course the young lad I met - my experience on the whole was a good one and the Madrid fans were great - BUT you could feel tension in the air building as the day went on

I do hope any and all that were involved in any of the incidents talked about are fit and well or at least on the road to recovery by now

 

[craigsteel]

The bar was a normal scene from any football pub, there was a mixed cross section of fans age wise, It was certainly not a trouble seeking crowd and people were having a good time.
1. My experience of previous policing of the Spanish police is they lack policing discretion skills, this was well illustrated here,
2. About 90 mins before KO, the riot police arrive and formed a line to the left of all the lads outside. The top cop instructs everyone to leave for the ground, Nobody jumped at his instruction,it is about one and half hours to KO, Hence the row of riot police advance and wade into several fans, The offence being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Noboby did anything wrong bar block the path and entrance to a car park, The force use to resolve the blocking of the path was disproportionate and well out of order, Several people were heavily batoned by the police, very severe facial injuries were picked up by the guy who came back in the bar amongst others, sadly guys who tried to calm things were the brunt of the police attacks. To my eye it was an unprovoked attack and the police could only be described as well up for it.
3. At the conclusion of the incident the fans group nos were reduced and I thought anything could happen here with this lot, next they flooded the area, a convoy of over 8+ further special police vans and the all pile out with riot shields and batons. Well over the top but typical spanish heavy handed policing.

Best wishes to all the innocent people who were injured by the Spanish Police, the sad thing is this has been happening repeatedly for far too long and nothing ever gets done to improve things.

 

[danebanksheik]

this was a year ago v spurs in madrid.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAypECL285E" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAypECL285E</a>

that looks like the bar off plaza mayor that city filled yesterday and did a full no limits for the tourists until the police turned up on horses.

 

[foreverablue18]

Complain to the club about, the email address is further up. The only way to stop this happening, is to complain about it, get the club to complain to uefa.

What can UEFA do about it?

The Spanish police as well as each club have to submit a report to UEFA after each game. They will no doubt say the match passed without incident, but MCFC's report will say a number of fans were attacked. UEFA then have to investigate any claims.

The FSF (Football Supporters' Federation) are compiling a dossier of events last night so if anyone who was in the bar or witnessed the attacks would care to submit a statement (and pictures of injuries if you were one of the unfortunate ones to be at the receiving end of a baton) for the dosier I would very much appreciate it.

We would prefer if reports weren't annonymous but we will treat all with the strictest of confidence so please indicate on your report if you don't wish for your name to be used.

My email address is ammocky@aol.com

Thanks

These look like the people to get hold of blues if you want to make a complaint, as well as MCFC itself!

 

[dom]

this was a year ago v spurs in madrid.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAypECL285E" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAypECL285E</a>

that looks like the bar off plaza mayor that city filled yesterday and did a full no limits for the tourists until the police turned up on horses.

Sad to say that, though it's 30 years since I lived in Madrid, it sounds as if the cops (esp the Guarda Civil) are being just as arsehole-ish as ever_

 

[mancmackem]

I was there with Greenie, Fanzone Danny and Natalie. The extensive posts made by people are pretty much spot on. One van turned up and around 8-10 Spanish police got out of the van with batons raised in one hand and the other hand pushed out to force City fans away from the entrance of an apartment block to the right of the bar. This then forced some blues onto the road. The next thing i see is a lad batoned across the face as the lens to his sunglasses flew out. At this point I pulled back with Greenie as we was looking after him after he had his jaw broke in an unprovoked attack off Deansgate two weeks ago (those who know Greenie know all about it, wouldnt hurt a fly). Danny and Nat got caught up in it but from a distance, we met back up in the ground. The only bad thing i saw was at the height of it all where a blue threw a plastic pint into the helmet of one of the police. But in terms of the spark for it all, there was none from the City fans side.

It's a culture with the Spanish police. I felt safer with the Italian police in Turin, and that's saying something. Also got the impression that the Spanish generally didn't like the English very much.

 

[thegoat10]

I was in the bar when the Police rolled up all heavy handed, i was actually buying a round and had been out the front for a couple of hours. Like most people have said who were there City fans did nothing wrong bar having a good time, singing. As it all kicked off we got pushed back into the bar and watched as Police just whacked anyone that moved outside, my 58 year old uncle got hit on the head as he tried to walk past the police with his hand held up, our kid took a whack, saw Felix getting a couple as he tried to cross the road to get to the ground, and loads of others - women, all ages of men, kids - getting whacked, some really badly. We then went to a bar right at the back of the away end and got a beer no problem and had no trouble at all. I think it was a set up and would like the club to officially complain, Natalie Pike and Fanzone Danny were maybe 15 yards away and witnessed it all so this might help but i ll be amazed if anything actually does happen.

 

[Scooby Blue]

Two very distinct issues which need separate discussion:

1) Aggression of police in dealing with fans
2) role of city fans in provoking police action in first place.

With regard to (1) there seems little doubt that police were heavy handed, but spanish police operate to their own rule book, and no doubt feel that they are always dealing with english hooligan stereotypes from the 1980s.

With regard to (2) there is a significant section of blues fans who think they can transport Mary D's levels of boisterousness to any foreign city without any repercussions...and therein lies the problem.

As early as Monday night (ok, early Tuesday morning)...I saw a bar manager panic + usher people inside / close up at simply the approaching "sound" of a few city fans singing loudly.
The Spanish perception of English fans is that we are always an accident waiting to go off...and this extends to the police.

To put it very simply....loud singing + chanting alone can be misinterpreted if you are not used to that sort of behaviour outside the stadium.

As Tuesday afternoon progressed I saw numerous examples of "reasonable" low-level policing i.e. asking groups of fans to quieten down a bit or stop blocking a passage etc.
Where these requests were responded to... there was no escalation at all, where the requests were ignored (or in fact the response was "prevocative" i.e. to sing louder / not move as requested) tension escalated pretty quickly...with the outcomes that have been described earlier in this thread.

 

[Anonymous]

Also got the impression that the Spanish generally didn't like the English very much.

Unless , of course , you're spending a fortune in one of their holiday resorts !!