Italy to Expel 246 English After Rioting

Italian police rounded up 246 English soccer fans and planned to expel them today after overnight riots shook this seaside resort.

The clashes were “the worst incident involving English fans” since the World Cup began in early June, British Embassy spokeswoman Kay Coombs said.

She said the fighting began when local Italian fans started celebrating Italy’s 2-0 victory over Uruguay in Rome on Monday night.

English fans drinking in a bar “started throwing bottles at the Italians and car windows were smashed,” Coombs said in a briefing for reporters in Bologna, where England plays a second-round game with Belgium tonight.

The fighting then spread throughout downtown Rimini and onto the waterfront and beaches, where shop windows were smashed and cars damaged before police managed to restore order this morning.

Rimini police called in reinforcements from surrounding towns to help control rampaging crowds.

Twenty people were treated in hospitals for injuries sustained in the two-hour battle involving hundreds of World Cup visitors, police said. Five Englishmen, one Frenchman and four policemen were among those injured, none seriously, authorities said. Most suffered bruises.

News reports said police used tear gas, clubs and rowboat oars in their efforts to restore order. Coombs said she couldn’t confirm that such measures were employed.

Asked if the clashes were the worst of the World Cup, Coombs said: “It’s the worst incident involving English fans. It’s the highest number of people involved. But when you look at what happened in Milan, the violence involving German fans was certainly more vicious.”

Coombs said the English fans caught by police will probably be flown home from Rimini on an airliner chartered by the Italian government.