The Metropolitan police in England have released pictures of 10 men linked with the violence that broke out at the Wembley Stadium after England failed to win Euro 2020.
Recall that the Metropolitan Police were placed under overwhelming pressure before and during the European Championship final which took place at the Wembley Stadium on July 11. The final was between England and Italy.
Unfortunately for England fans that wanted to win the European Championship for the first time in the history of the tournament, the English team lost the final via penalty shootout.
It was so painful for the supporters that some of the irate fans decided to take the laws into their hands and went on to cause violence in and outside the Wembley Stadium.
The embarrassing event resulted in the destruction of property, injuries to some spectators, and security operatives. Since then, the police and other security operatives have been investigating the incident to unravel those behind the violence.
During the weekend, the Metropolitan Police released pictures of 10 men who played a role in the violence. The police were able to get the pictures of the men through the aid of the CCTV camera around Wembley Stadium.
In a statement the detectives issued alongside the pictures, the police want the public to help them identify the men in the pictures because they believe that they have questions to answer.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that after the match “officers began the painstaking process of reviewing hundreds of hours of CCTV and body-worn video content from Wembley Stadium and other key locations…
“The meticulous investigation will continue to identify further people of interest or indeed other offenses which may have occurred.”
While giving an update on the effort of the Metropolitan Police so far, Detective Sergeant Matt Simpson, from the Met’s Public Order Crime Team urged the public to get in touch with the police immediately they identify the faces in the pictures.
“Following the scenes of disorder both at Wembley Stadium and in central London, we committed that those responsible would face consequences”, he said.
“Today’s action is being taken to help identify those who we think have questions to answer.
“If you know who they are, we urge you to get in touch as soon as possible.
“This investigation is in its very early stages and I am in no doubt that further appeals and arrests will follow.
“We also continue to support police action across the UK to identify those responsible for the racist and offensive comments posted on social media.”
Violent prone Euro 2020 in England
Before the European Championship kicks off on June 11, the fear of the European football governing body, UEFA, was that the Wembley Stadium might not be safe health-wise to host the final of the tournament. This was so because of the high rising cases of COVID-19.
It got to a point the football governing body was contemplating changing the venue of the final. It got so intense that football authorities in Italy showed interest in hosting the final.
However, UEFA insisted that the football body was no longer planning to change the venue of the final and that the Wembley Stadium remained the host.
Unfortunately for the government of the United Kingdom, the disorder in the tournament was not caused by coronavirus pandemic but by irate fans.
Before the final started, the security operatives struggled to keep ticket-less spectators away from the Wembley Stadium. It was so bad that some of the ticket-less fans found their way into the stadium.
England fans forcing their way into Wembley stadium tonight. 🏴
— The Left Wing Society 🇵🇸 (@LeftWingSociety) July 11, 2021
pic.twitter.com/gupscd6aRk
When the match ended in favor of Italy, some of the irate fans decided to take the law into their own hands by beating up people and destroying property.
The United Kingdom Football Policing Unit announced that 897 football-related incidents and 264 arrests had been recorded across the country from the night of the final to July 13, 2021.
This means that the number of football-related incidents during the tournament is 2,344, and the security operatives made 630 arrests throughout the tournament.
Terrible scenes at #Wembley stadium.pic.twitter.com/2JtQoo0M5k
— Shivangi Thakur (@thakur_shivangi) July 11, 2021
