Spanish Police...

[Chris12345]

First our fans vs Seville... and now it's happened to bolton...

The Spanish police really are ****s...

Spoiler

Bolton complain over Spain police

Bolton fans were baton charged by Spanish police in Madrid

Bolton Wanderers have made an official complaint about "overzealous and disproportionate" treatment of their supporters by Spanish police. The club contacted European football's governing body Uefa after the 0-0 draw at Atletico Madrid in the Uefa Cup.
Bolton said there were "a number of assaults and unprovoked baton charges before, during, and after the game". About 17 fans were injured.
British police also criticised Spanish officers' "heavy-handed" tactics.
James Kirk, a Bolton fan from Fife, said: "We came out of the stadium and just as we came down loads of police with shields and batons rushed back just where we'd come from.

... unfortunately the Madrid police have a reputation for not taking dissent very well

Ch Supt Dave Lea,
Greater Manchester Police


"They were battering people to the ground - it was absolutely brutal and appalling. I've been to Spain many, many times but I tell you I don't want to go again."
Another fan said: "I've been all over the country watching Bolton and the police in Spain behaved like animals. I have never seen anything like it."
Club chairman Phil Gartside said he would take the issue to the "highest level" to get an explanation.
Mr Gartside said: "I have great sympathy for any of our supporters who have been injured by what is clearly an overreaction by the Spanish police.
"Bolton Wanderers Football Club will be pursuing the matter at the highest level and seeking an explanation from the Spanish authorities."
The football club is liaising with Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the British Embassy to try to establish what happened.
Junior officers
Ch Supt Dave Lea, of GMP, said the problems started when police baton charged hundreds of Madrid fans out of the stadium.
"That incident has probably set the tone for the policing of the whole match and unfortunately the Madrid police have a reputation for not taking dissent very well," he said.
The police chief said a number of sporadic incidents followed which resulted in police being "very heavy-handed" with the Bolton fans, and he blamed senior officers for the problems.
"They didn't have enough control over their junior officers who were far too quick to use their batons rather than talking to the fans who would comply with their instructions.
"Lessons need to be learned and I will make sure that my observations will be captured in a full report for the Uefa security investigation that I know is going to be forthcoming," he added.
Next stage
The result of the match at the Vicente Calderon stadium meant Bolton won the tie 1-0 on aggregate to reach the last-16 stage of the competition.
Before their Uefa Cup match against Red Star Belgrade in December, Bolton fans were detained at a hotel in the Serbian capital.
Local police acted amid security fears after trouble involving Red Star supporters the previous weekend.
Last April, a number of Tottenham fans were injured at their Uefa Cup tie in Seville in violent clashes with Spanish riot police.

If teams in the EPL were being racist all the time and its Police were battering supporters with alarming regularity... we'd be chucked out of Europe! :twisted:



Odds of something happening... NONE! :roll:

 

[Fordy]

yeah they seem to have a problem over there. racism and heavy handed policing yet no action seems to be taken against either.

probably shouldnt have brought up racism on this site.


* slunks off to pet jumbo the elephant*

 

[Chris12345]

way to turn my thread into an extreme barrage of racial slurs :roll:

 

[MrsKeane]

WHY do they get away with it?
stands to sense that if it happened in the EPL we'd be flung out.
Are the spanish immune? I am starting to think that FIFA likes the spanish

 

[MrsKeane]

yeah they seem to have a problem over there. racism and heavy handed policing yet no action seems to be taken against either.

problem shouldnt have brought up racism on this site.


* slunks off to pet jumbo the elephant*

For a moment i thought you said jimbo, I thought Eek

 

[joey.leone]

WHY do they get away with it?
stands to sense that if it happened in the EPL we'd be flung out.
Are the spanish immune? I am starting to think that FIFA likes the spanish

yeah, despite spain having won fuck all.i remember last year i think it was, one of the fifa big wigs (cant remember who) said that england was a shit place to have a world cup basically and said then something like 'give it to an important country like spain or italy'.for one, both countries have heavy handed police and racist fans and second, how he can say that when spain have won less than england is bollocks.

 

[Rocksuperstar]

FIFA and UEFA should both ban Spain and it's clubs from entering any form of competition, outside of it's domestic cups and leagues, for at least a year - not only will that save a few painful trips abroad for supporters, it'll maybe give the Spanish FA a chance to address the obvious problems they have and, maybe, work with the government as to why the Police are unable to control a crowd without kicking the shit out of them all.

If they won't ban them (and i don't see it happening, to be honest - ban a club for trouble, but ban a whole nation because the police are mentals? :shrug: unlikely) then it will end up with the clubs taking the stand and suffering because of it - teams will just refuse to travel to Spain to play, insisting on either neutral venues or, if they are to play in Spain, behind closed doors with NO crowds at all :shrug:

It's not a football problem, it's a Spanish police problem which takes most of the solution out of FIFA and UEFA's hands but they still have a responsibility to the safety of their competitions competitors - makes me laugh that they're so paranoid about places like Israel and Turkey (and, in some cases, rightly so) but at least it's the passion for the game that causes the concerns, not just the badly trained gorilla's commonly known as riot-police, with quite obviously no crowd control training at all.

 

[Chris12345]

Does anyone read "The Spanish Thing" on F365 (and if not, why not? it's brilliant!)

The dude did a very good article last week on the troubles within the Spanish FA, and how it makes the English FA look incredible :lol:

 

[Rocksuperstar]

Does anyone read "The Spanish Thing" on F365 (and if not, why not? it's brilliant!)

The dude did a very good article last week on the troubles within the Spanish FA, and how it makes the English FA look incredible :lol:

yeah, tis good - particularly liked

It's not that those looking after La Liga couldn't organise a booze up in a brewery, it's just that they would somehow contrive to set themselves on fire sending the e-mail proposing it.

:lol:

 

[worcestersauce]

What we forget is that when we were swinging through the sixties and turning the country upside down in the seventies Spain was still held in the iron grip of a fascist dictator who controlled the population by force and held them down with the threat of and indeed use of terror and torture. Democracy did't even raise it's head for fear of being shot off until after Franco died in 1976.
And the instrument of this control and terror? Yes of course the police, particularly as I understand it, the national police rather than the local police, our friends from Sevilla and last night in Madrid.

Now I know to some people on here 1976 is a lifetime ago but it's not that long, It's actually when a young Glen Hoddle made his debut, and there will still be members of that force still in it today, and their sons and nephews etc, etc.
Those people love to beat people and British fans (don't forget Rangers) are fair game.

I got a bit deep there but I thinks it's relevant.