| Hateland -
Articles |
04/05/02
- Police threaten to sue Millwall over post-match riot
By Steve Bird
The Times
SCOTLAND YARD is planning to sue Millwall Football Club
after 900 hooligans went on the rampage, injuring dozens
of officers and police horses. The mob hurled thunder-flash
explosives, flares, paving slabs, bottles and bricks
at mounted and riot police in street battles lasting
more than an hour following the team’s failure
to win promotion to the Premiership.
Ian Blair, Scotland Yard’s Deputy Commissioner,
said that officers had been at risk of death in the
ferocious violence. He said that he was consulting legal
advisers about bringing action against the club, an
unprecedented move by police in Britain. He has summoned
Millwall’s bosses and the Football League for
a meeting next week.
“We will be taking advice to consider whether
it is appropriate to seek recompense for the injuries
and the overall cost of this operation.” Legal
experts said that they could not see how the club could
be held legally responsible for the actions of its fans.
“There needs to be a link between the club and
the activities of these fans to enable a compensation
claim to get off the ground,” Anuja Dhir, a barrister
specialising in crime and public order offences, said.
The violence erupted outside the ground after Birmingham
City defeated the club at its ground in Bermondsey,
southeast London, during injury time on Thursday night.
Between 600 and 900 Millwall fans hurled fireworks at
police before ripping up masonry to use as missiles.
Cars were set on fire and smashed as residents watched.
Forty-seven officers suffered injuries, including broken
bones, and 26 police horses were hurt, three seriously.
More than 1,800 Birmingham fans were penned in at the
ground while more riot police were drafted in to escort
them safely away in buses. Seven people were arrested.
Officers were studying video footage of the incidents
and plan further arrests.
Mr Blair said: “This behaviour was absolutely
unacceptable. We had a situation in which for an hour
and ten minutes the football fans of Millwall decided
to attack police. The Birmingham fans were locked inside
the ground and not involved, so this was a confrontation
between people who allegedly support Millwall. It’s
intolerable that we can have officers hospitalised.”
Chief Superintendent Mike Humphrey, who led the police
operation, said that the “recreational violence”
saw hundreds of missiles raining down on police. “Millwall
has always been a difficult club and last night it disgraced
itself,” he said. While intelligence had categorised
the game as a high risk, officers were astonished at
the level of violence.
Around 250 officers policed the game and reinforcements
were called in as trouble flared. It is believed that
some hooligans, who left before the final whistle, had
stored fireworks in cars parked nearby. Sergeant Russell
Lamb, a 35-year-old officer injured in the clashes,
said that officers were dropping like nine-pins in a
scene reminiscent of a Bosnian battlefield.
“It was one of the most frightening situations
I have ever been in.” Theo Paphitis, Millwall’s
chairman, said that the club would eradicate hooliganism,
but insisted that an outside thuggish element had used
football as a cover. He accepted that some of his own
“so-called fans” had joined in.
“The problem of mob violence is not solely a Millwall
problem, it is not a football problem, it is a problem
which plagues the whole of our society,” he said.
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