Violence between supporters in Marseille before the Euro England-Russia match, June 11, 2016. -

Darko Bandic / AP / SIPA

Four years after the clashes between Russian and English supporters during Euro 2016 in Marseille, there is no longer any doubt - if there ever was: the Russians were the aggressors and the British the targets.

"It was a commando action", according to CRS Gilles Montfort, from which Andrew Bache was left disabled for life, victim of a surge of violence.

"The English were in the Old Port, there was a lot of alcohol consumption, a lot of English supporters threw projectiles, bottles, but there were no clashes yet," recalls the 47-year-old major. years, on the second day of the trial of Pavel Kossov and Mikhaïl Ivkine, two supporters of Spartak Moscow tried for the assault of this fifty-something English.

The English were drunk, the Russians were not

Initially, "young people from the neighborhoods provoke the English", in memory of the clashes which had marked the World Cup-1998, in Marseille already, on the sidelines of the Tunisia-England match, remembers the policeman in front of the Assize Court of Bouches- of the Rhône.

On June 11, 2016, the expected shock is the England-Russia match, at 9 p.m.

In the middle of the afternoon, Major Montfort learned by radio "that a hundred Russian hooligans were coming down from the Vélodrome stadium".

A few minutes later, "tables, chairs and parasol poles" start flying, Place aux Huiles, a few meters from the Old Port, and "the English are being lynched by the Russians".

"The English were drunk, very alcoholic, but the Russians were not," insists Major Montfort, surprised by the speed of the group of attackers, who arrived "like an army": "it was a commando action".

Once the place emptied with tear gas canisters, the gendarme sees Andrew Bache "lying on the ground, on his stomach, unconscious": "His face was swollen to a point ... He looked like a boxer coming out of a bad fight ".

On the screens of the courtroom, a zoom shows Andrew Bache, his face distorted, bleeding.

A violence worthy of the OM-PSG of the 90s

On the civil party bench, Harry Bache, the victim's son, wipes his eyes and stares at the two 34-year-old Russians in the defendants' box.

His father is not there: now disabled, he has no memory of this Euro and refused to come.

Gilles Montfort did not attend the attack on Mr. Bache, nor saw the two accused that day.

But various videos show Mikhail Ivkine throwing a chair towards Andrew Bache and Pavel Kossov causing him to fall to the ground with a violent punch to the head, from behind.

A certainty for the gendarme: "To see such violence between supporters, we have to go back to the old OM-PSG, in the 90s".

Justice

Marseille: Punches and throws of chairs, the "terrifying" fight between hooligans during Euro 2016 before justice

  • Sport

  • Marseilles

  • Russia

  • CRS

  • England

  • OM

  • Soccer