Dutch, German Soccer Fans Riot Along Border

Dutch and West German police early today dispersed several hundred brick-hurling soccer fans in a cross-border riot following West Germany’s 2-1 World Cup victory over the Netherlands, police said.

Hundreds of Dutch and West German soccer fans threw bricks and beer bottles at one another in a street where the two nations’ border runs down the middle, a Kerkrade police spokesman said. At least four people were injured by flying glass during the “minor war” lasting more than three hours, the spokesman said.

Police from both sides of the border made baton charges to disperse the crowd, he said. Dutch Television put the number of rioters at 1,000.

There were nine arrests in the Netherlands and an unknown number in West Germany, the spokesman said, adding that several West German motorists had their cars pelted with bricks and beer cans.

There were no reports of riots in Milan, Italy, where tens of thousands of fans from both nations saw West Germany advance to the World Cup quarterfinals.