Germany: Over 300 German fans throwing bottles and fireworks were detained by police in inner-city Dortmund yesterday evening, half an hour before the national side's World Cup match against Poland.
Earlier, 60 Polish fans, some carrying knives and metal pipes, were taken into "preventive custody" on their way to the match after being identified by Polish police on duty in Dortmund.
The German fans were arrested around 8.30pm in the Alter Markt area of the city. Several thousand fans from both sides had been gathered there for hours, drinking beer in the sun, to watch the match on big screens.
Officers moved in to "prevent the situation from escalating" after seeing a known group of hardcore skinhead hooligans enter the crowd, a Dortmund police spokesman said.
As they started to break up the crowd, a small group of fans began throwing bottles, fireworks, chairs and even tables at the oncoming officers, injuring one officer.
Yesterday's incidents were the most violent yet since the tournament began last week. Concerns about groups of violent Polish fans slipping over the border into Germany were reflected in the large numbers of Polish officers - in uniform and in plainclothes - on duty with German colleagues in Dortmund yesterday.
In attendance at yesterday's match was French police officer Daniel Nivel, beaten into a coma by German hooligans at a 1998 World Cup match in Lens, northern France.
