Soccer fans jailed for Euro 2016 violence, but many blame 'Russian hooligans'

A French court convicted six English soccer fans Monday and handed prison sentences ranging from one to three months to five of them for involvement in rioting at the European Championship, as a top British police officer accused Russian hooligans of staging an “orchestrated” campaign of violence. Meanwhile, a Northern Ireland fan became the first fatality at Euro 2016 after plunging over a restaurant balcony to his death. Witnesses said he had been drinking. There were no Russians on trial, despite a Marseille prosecutor earlier in the day blaming “highly trained” Russian thugs for the worst of the violence at a major international football tournament since the 1998 World Cup.
The Russians looked like the black death squad. … They had these uniforms on. The police just stood there watching.
Harold Amos, 26, told the Times he was attacked, AFP reported
Describing the mentality of the 'Russian hooligans’, Professor Sergei Medvedev from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics wrote on social media,“Our fans in Marseille are a copy of Russian foreign policy.” They represent a strand of nationalism which has become more strident since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and state media ratcheted up its narrative that the West is enemy No. 1. Their conduct in Marseille even drew praise in some political circles, where sport is seen as an extension of what the Kremlin casts as Russia’s battle for influence on the world stage. European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, has threatened to expel the Russian and English teams from the championship if the violence persists.

Source: AFP