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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tim Hanlon

Fears of rioting in England and Wales clash leads to police operation in Tenerife

Fears of violence between England and Wales fans in Tenerife has led police to plan a major security operation for Tuesday's World Cup game.

There has already been some trouble with video footage showing a brawl outside bars on the largest of Spain's Canary Islands on Friday evening, with people wearing England and Wales shirts involved.

UK police fear people prevented from travelling to Qatar for the World Cup may have been involved in the incident in Tenerife, but added they have yet to confirm this.

More than 1,300 people subject to football banning orders were forced to hand their UK passports to police in a bid to prevent violent and abusive fans in England and Wales travelling to Qatar.

Those wishing to travel to other countries from November 10 until the end of the tournament have been required to seek permission to hold on to their passports and be subject to checks, according to the Home Office.

Police are mounting a special operation for Tuesday's game after trouble between what appeared to be England and Wales fans (Hauvetime/Twitter)
Police have said the fight in Tenerife last Friday is under investigation (Hauvetime/Twitter)

A statement issued by the local council said Friday's fight in the tourist area is under investigation.

It added the national police and local police of Arona are working together to prevent "possible riots" in the tourist areas of Arona when World Cup matches take place, adding this will include England v Wales.

Chief constable Mark Roberts, the UK's football policing lead, when asked about the incident, said: "We're going to have to look at this because we've got the football banning order regime that prevents people from travelling.

Local and national police in Tenerife are working together to prevent "possible riots" on Tuesday (Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley)

"There are on occasions exemptions and I think some of the people who got exemptions have gone to Tenerife. We can't say yet they've been involved yet or not but we probably do need to think about it.

"Sadly I think the Spanish police are pretty used to dealing with unpleasant drunkenness from holidaying Brits so I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary.

"If it hadn't been World Cup time it would have probably happened and no-one would have batted an eyelid. It's unfortunate but it's that link again between alcohol and poor behaviour."

Mr Roberts praised England and Wales fans in Qatar and confirmed there have been no arrests.

So far there has been very little trouble involving fans during the World Cup overall.

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