UK hooligans, locals clash in French city ahead of football event

Riot police in France have used tear gas to halt clashes between British soccer fans and locals in the French port city of Marseilles ahead of a European football event.

Police said on Friday that two British fans were injured and four police officers slightly hurt in a string of incidents overnight involving British football fans and locals.

Witnesses said the fight between the fans and the locals, outside a pub in the Mediterranean city’s Old Port district, was stopped by police, who quickly restored order by separating the two groups from one another.

It is not clear how the brawl began. Police said that two British hooligans were arrested.

France is already in the grip of industrial action, mainly over reforms to labor law.

President Francois Hollande warned against attempts to disrupt Euro 2016 with strike action.

Train drivers are threatening to strike on a line serving the Stade de France in St Denis just outside Paris, where France play Romania in the first match.

France is also on high alert since Takfiri attacks on Paris in November, one which took place at the Stade de France, and is still reeling from floods in central and northern regions.

"I appeal to everyone's sense of responsibility because if the state must do its duty - and it will, it will take all the measures that are necessary," Hollande said on Thursday.

Transport Minister Alain Vidalies said Friday France may order striking rail employees back to work.

SS