Videos have emerged showing Newcastle United supporters seeking refuge in a bar in Marseille, with separate footage appearing to show clashes between groups of fans on the streets on Monday night.
The incidents come ahead of Newcastle’s Champions League clash at the French side this evening, with travelling supporters already facing stringent safety warnings.
Newcastle fans have been advised ‘not to wear anything that will identify themselves as supporters or congregate in large groups on the evening of Monday 24th November or all day on and Tuesday 25th November’.
They have also been ‘strongly advised by French Police not to visit the Old Port (Vieux Port) area of Marseille during their stay’ and to avoid hanging ‘flags or any items of club colours in the city’.
Videos from Monday night earlier showed the sets of supporters in jovial spirits together, sharing their mutual dislike of Paris Saint-Germain in a bar.
Later, though, a video emerged of fans cramming into a bar, a couple of them coughing as it was suggested that Marseille fans had thrown tear gas at them and then run away.
A video emerged on Monday night of fans cramming into a bar, a couple of them coughing as it was suggested that Marseille fans had thrown tear gas at them and then run away
Another clip of a street brawl circulated on X, showing unidentifiable individuals punching and kicking each other, shared under the caption ‘Streetfight Marseille vs Newcastle’. One person was heard shouting ‘come on’ in English while the filmer laughed.
One user wrote on X: ‘Standing outside a bar before everyone in good spirits, undercover police turned up and said yous (sic) all need to get inside now because they are coming, next thing you know at least 70 of there fans turned up in balaclavas and just attacked the full bar!! #nufc’.
Another posted: ‘Was literally walking to the bar and mentioned to my mate, somethings (sic) f*****g happening here and seconds later at least 30/40 people come running out from all angles we couldn’t have been anymore In the middle of it, nowt you could have done to defend it. It’s genuinely horrendous.’
The seaside city is a notoriously hostile environment for travelling fans where ultra culture reigns in the area and, according to reports, local police intelligence say that the visit of an English club is freighted with the potential for trouble.
An estimated 3,300 Newcastle fans are travelling to France’s south coast for the game, and an official Newcastle statement issued a couple of weeks ago looked to prevent any issues with strong measures.
These include restrictions on movements for ticket holders, with large swathes of the city out of bounds and ‘strong advice’ not to book hotels close to the stadium.
The city’s touristy Old Port area was a flashpoint for violence during England’s Euro 2016 opener against Russia which saw some 35 people injured – four seriously, and most of them England fans – and a total of 20 people arrested after three days of disorder.
It was reported that a large group – around 150 in total – of ‘well-trained’ Russian hooligans were behind the violence.
Marseille is a notoriously hostile environment for travelling fans where ultra culture reigns and, according to reports, local police say the visit of an English club has the potential for trouble
The Newcastle team were pictured arriving in Marseille ahead of their Champions League clash
On Tuesday there is a mandatory meet-up point at Place de la Joilette, where bars and restaurants open from 11am ahead of a 9pm kick-off. Fans will be taken to the stadium with a police escort from 4.30pm.
‘Mandatory transport to the Stade Velodrome will leave from this location and supporters MUST be in this location for 16.30,’ the statement read. ‘There will be no exceptions for any supporters making their way to the stadium.’
With the prospect of being held back after the game for at least 45 minutes, Newcastle fans could spend more than seven hours in the Velodrome on Tuesday evening.
Ajax fans were banned from attending their Champions League fixture in Marseille in September by travelling authorities, who cited the violent reputation of sections of Ajax’s fanbase and the ‘long-standing animosity’ between the two sets of supporters as justification. Many deemed these measures extreme at the time.
