Irish and Russian fans clash in Moscow

More than 100 Russian and Irish soccer fans clashed in central Moscow ahead of the European championship qualifying match.

More than 100 Russian and Irish soccer fans clashed in central Moscow ahead of the European championship qualifying match.

Interfax news agency, quoting police, said two foreign fans were injured, one just off a central Moscow thoroughfare and another behind the city's Red Square near a hotel where many of the Irish fans were staying.

At least six people were arrested, police said.

"Among the wounded are two foreigners, an Irish and a Dutch citizen," an ambulance worker told Interfax.

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Moscow authorities, still smarting from a soccer riot in June after Russia lost a World Cup game to Japan, said some policemen and Interior Ministry troops were patrolling near the Lokomotiv Stadium where the match was taking place.

A man was stabbed and more than 100 were hurt in the June riot in the worst violence Moscow had seen in a decade.