Danish police use teargas to end soccer riot

COPENHAGEN, MAY 18. The police fired teargas and used dogs to break up fighting between rival English and Turkish soccer fans hours before the UEFA Cup final, and at least five people were severely hurt.

A hospital spokeswoman in the Danish capital Copenhagen said eight people had been hurt in fighting on Wednesday, five of them seriously. ``They are in a critical condition. This means it could be fatal,'' she said, adding nobody had died.

The police said nine people had been injured, two of them seriously.

Danish television showed pictures of one fan bleeding profusely after part of his ear was ripped off.

The police said the situation was calm immediately after the match, which Turkish club Galatasaray won on penalties. Turkish supporters cheered as they made their way to the city centre. Some honked car horns.

An estimated 1,000 supporters of Galatasaray and a few hundred fans of English club Arsenal had massed in the central city hall square at around lunch-time. Sporadic outbursts of violence prompted the riot police to use teargas and dogs to disperse the mobs.

The police said 20 people had been arrested.

The killing of two Leeds fans in the cup semifinal tie in Istanbul last month had stirred bad blood between English and Turkish fans.

On Wednesday, terrified schoolchildren ran for cover and a man in a wheelchair choked from the stinging effects of the teargas.

``We had a situation like last night up until midnight with a whole lot of happy people on both sides apparently getting along quite well together. Then it suddenly exploded and turned into attacks, and a violence which we are not used to takes over,'' Copenhagen police spokesman Flemming Munch said.

``One Englishman is seriously injured,'' Munch added.

``We are not 100 per cent sure of what actually happened.''

A British consulate official in Denmark told BBC Radio the fan was ``hit over the head with an iron bar''.

An Arsenal supporter was stabbed in the back and lungs in overnight riots in the city centre. He remained in hospital in a stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Seven people were injured in the overnight riots. Ten people, six Turks and four English, were arrested.

Arsenal has been relatively free of the hooliganism that has long accompanied English football teams in Europe. The Turks have rarely been in trouble abroad but boast of making Istanbul a ``hell'' for visiting teams.

More than 10,000 Galatasaray and some 12,500 Arsenal supporters were expected for the cup final - one of the highlights of the European club soccer season.

Some 8,000 people of Turkish descent also live in Copenhagen, normally a quiet city with a small police force.

Galatasaray's success in Europe in recent years has been an emotional outlet for millions of Turks who feel shut out of the European Union and discriminated against by the West.

``Win and we'll erect your statues,'' Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper said on its front page on Wednesday.

- Reuters

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