More bad news from the south of France.
With the game against Russia a matter of hours away, riot police used tear gas on English supporters for the third successive day amid more ugly scenes in Marseille.
Yet again, the city's harbour was the backdrop, as shown by the following footage posted by ITV reporter Emma Murphy.
https://twitter.com/emmamurphyitv/status/741636267725729792
Undeterred by the tear gas canisters, some 'fans' can be seen throwing missiles.
Others chose to flee the scene.
https://twitter.com/emmamurphyitv/status/741636324436938753
https://twitter.com/emmamurphyitv/status/741638000602386432
But although such scenes are becoming depressingly familiar, it's important to stress that, yet again, the following scenes are the result of a small number of idiots.
https://twitter.com/emmamurphyitv/status/741639455786815488
As much as some sections of the media would have you believe that
all England supporters are shirtless, beer-fuelled, violence-seeking yobs with 'English and proud' tattooed on their foreheads, that's simply not the case.
The vast majority of those in the city are
good-natured people who are there to watch a football match. This side of things is all too easily forgotten.
Take this bunch for example. There's no animosity here...
https://twitter.com/jonathanwalditn/status/741588162925989888
As was
brilliantly summed up by journalist Iain Macintosh, unfortunately, some football fans (no matter what nationality) are dicks. There might not be very many of them, but in only takes a handful to cause negative headlines.
Let's hope the idiots involved spend tonight in a police cell, not at the the Stade Velodrome.
