Police officer set ablaze and three were dead after Polish villa fans unleash violence’ planned.
A police officer was left with burns after being attacked by Polish football fans outside Aston Villa’s Europa Conference League home game on Thursday night. Four other people were also injured.
Outside Villa Park, police in riot gear were pelted with projectiles and fireworks as they stood up to Legia Warsaw fans.
A police officer was rushed to hospital with burns following a clash with a flare. No one was seriously hurt.
Two dogs were also injured, as well as a horse.
As West Midlands Police declared a “major police operation”, away fans were barred from entering the stadium ahead of the match, which kicked at 8pm.
Following Villa’s announcement of a reduced ticket allocation for Legia Warsaw fans following Thursday’s clashes with Dutch police, the Polish club’s travelling faithful were said to have descended into “planned and systematic violence”.
Aston Villa said that Legia Warsaw fans were “outraged” when they were told of the reduced allocation, which had been reduced from 1,700 tickets to 1,002, after the match between the two sides was postponed due to safety concerns.
According to reports, Legia Warsaw supporters stormed the stadium on Thursday, with around 1,000 of them attempting to make their way to the stadium’s turnstiles. However, no away fans were allowed to enter.
Birmingham Police have said they are unable to let away fans enter Villa Park at this time due to a disturbance outside the stadium, which has resulted in missiles being thrown at police officers. Three officers have been injured and a large-scale police operation is in progress.
Birmingham Police have asked fans to avoid the area around Witton Lane at this time.
According to a newspaper report, the disorder erupted after a dispute over tickets with Aston Villa officials.
The Polish fans were kept in a private coach.
He then went on to describe confrontations with the police shortly before kick-off, after many supporters were left with no tickets and were confined to the underground section of the stadium.
A statement from Aston Villa said no away supporters were admitted to the stadium and the violence erupted after the club reduced the number of tickets allocated to the Polish side due to security concerns.
Around an hour prior to kick-off, Villa stated that Legia supporters engaged in “planned and systematic acts of violence” towards West Midlands Police officers, following which West Midlands Police decided to “eliminate all Legia supporters”.
Aston Villa stated that it “condemns the behaviour of the visiting supporters” and expressed its gratitude to West Midlands Police for being so professional in such a difficult situation.
The club also stated that the UK safety authorities (UEFA and Aston Villa) had advised on November 2 that ticket allocation for away supporters for this fixture had been reduced to “1,002” on the advice of the safety authorities following a previous “large-scale disorder” caused by Legia supporters at a match against AZ Alkmaard last month.
“A number of Dutch police officers were injured during that disorder. As a consequence, UEFA banned Legia supporters from travelling to Mostar for their game against HŠK Zrinjski.
“In spite of numerous requests for cooperation from Legia Warsaw concerning their travelling supporters, especially in the last two days, no assistance on the serious safety matter of away fans attending Villa Park was forthcoming from the visiting club.
“The club has repeatedly, including this morning, raised concerns in conjunction with UEFA and all the relevant authorities to Legia that ticketless away supporters were attempting to attend Villa Park.”
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said in a statement that West Midlands Police responded to the “deeply distressing scenes” outside Villa Park today. “I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to the officers who bravely put themselves in harm’s way to protect others,” he added. “I am confident that UEFA will now act quickly to take decisive action.”
The match ended 2-1 in Villa’s favour.
