Wirral Wizard

I was in the Aussie bar on Wednesday night having a good night watching the RS lose and singing away when suddenly chairs started being thrown at the windows outside. I kept out of trouble but I think the police came quickly and fired tear gas to clear the protagonists, who were apparently local Lille hooligans. A few Evertonians came back into the bar bloodied and I don't know whether they went looking to confront the thugs or were just outside when they arrived. So the scene was set...the police were in heavy presence from the start and were clearly nervous. When we arrived at the station they asked us where we were staying and were we expecting more people to stay with us.
 
I was at the side of the square on Thursday and it was all good humoured until out of the blue about 10 people started running across the square - it turns out they were mostly plain clothed officers. I couldn't see what happened to the lad they caught but it quickly resulted in some bottles being thrown and the atmosphere changed immediately. The riot police came in and more bottles were thrown. The police responded with tear gas and that quickly cleared the square.
 
It is unfortunate that a few people ruined the day. Throwing bottles at police who were just doing their job was out of order and it came as absolutely no surprise to me that the police responded with tear gas given the events of the previous evening. I don't know what else they were supposed to do to get things back under control quickly. To be fair they disappeared soon after and the rest of the day saw no more real problems, except for some more idiots throwing bottles at a handful of Lille fans who were standing with our supporters by the theatre.
 
The biggest mistake the French authorities made was to allow people to buy glass bottles of beer and drink them in the square. It was inevitable some drunken idiots would start smashing them. There are always some people who are looking to cause trouble.
 
I appreciate that most people will probably disagree with me but I don't blame the police for using tear gas, although the reports of two rubber bullets being fired is a whole different issue for me.
 
The fact is that 10,000 fans had come to party and it is such a shame that our name is being tarnished by a handful of idiots who do not represent the values of our great club.

I was in the Aussie bar on Wednesday night having a good night watching the RS lose and singing away when suddenly chairs started being thrown at the windows outside. I kept out of trouble but I think the police came quickly and fired tear gas to clear the protagonists, who were apparently local Lille hooligans. A few Evertonians came back into the bar bloodied and I don't know whether they went looking to confront the thugs or were just outside when they arrived. So the scene was set...the police were in heavy presence from the start and were clearly nervous. When we arrived at the station they asked us where we were staying and were we expecting more people to stay with us.
 
I was at the side of the square on Thursday and it was all good humoured until out of the blue about 10 people started running across the square - it turns out they were mostly plain clothed officers. I couldn't see what happened to the lad they caught but it quickly resulted in some bottles being thrown and the atmosphere changed immediately. The riot police came in and more bottles were thrown. The police responded with tear gas and that quickly cleared the square.
 
It is unfortunate that a few people ruined the day. Throwing bottles at police who were just doing their job was out of order and it came as absolutely no surprise to me that the police responded with tear gas given the events of the previous evening. I don't know what else they were supposed to do to get things back under control quickly. To be fair they disappeared soon after and the rest of the day saw no more real problems, except for some more idiots throwing bottles at a handful of Lille fans who were standing with our supporters by the theatre.
 
The biggest mistake the French authorities made was to allow people to buy glass bottles of beer and drink them in the square. It was inevitable some drunken idiots would start smashing them. There are always some people who are looking to cause trouble.
 
I appreciate that most people will probably disagree with me but I don't blame the police for using tear gas, although the reports of two rubber bullets being fired is a whole different issue for me.
 
The fact is that 10,000 fans had come to party and it is such a shame that our name is being tarnished by a handful of idiots who do not represent the values of our great club.