Wednesday, 12 April 2017

BBC News: Leicester fans injured in fresh Madrid clashes with police


               The BBC's Phil Mackie saw injured fans in Plaza Mayor

Leicester City fans have been involved in further clashes with Spanish police ahead of their Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.
Objects have been thrown at police and fans injured, along with smoke bombs being set off.
BBC journalist Phil Mackie confirmed police used baton charges to clear parts of a city square.
Earlier, Spanish police said eight Leicester fans were arrested for "causing a mess" on Tuesday night.
Social media videos from Plaza Mayor, where Leicester fans had been told they could gather, show a group of police being targeted with missiles and fans chanting "Gibraltar is ours".
A witness told BBC 5 live: "There were a couple of people who probably antagonised the police, but then they took out all these people here.
"There were people with children, they came in with batons and there was a 70-year-old man and the kids [in the way]."
Owynn Palmer-Atkin, reporting for BBC Radio Leicester, said: "There was a couple of flares that went off - blue smoke, then a bang, and that is when you heard the tone of the chanting change.
"The noise of the crowd seem to quieten and then become more of a panic.
"There was another bang and that is when the riot vans started charging across the square. I find it incredible a police van would travel that fast in a crowded square."
He reported seeing police charging a group of Leicester fans walking in the city centre before three were pushed to the ground, hit with batons and bundled into the back of vans.
Police said six officers were also attacked in the overnight disturbances.
The eight fans arrested remain in custody and will appear in court on Thursday.
The club has lodged an official complaint about the nature of the policing.

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