Shaking Euro 2012 peace and order
Euro 2012 fans

Few major events take place without at least a bit of turmoil. So it happens at Euro 2012, which just took off.

Poznan, Poland, is one of the host cities for Euro 2012 matches. Already, its Old City has seen a fight involving deranged and drunk football fans. A fight involving multiple people lasted for several minutes, while bottles and chairs flew in the air. The police, as Euro 2012 news indicate, arrested ten Poles, a Croatian, and three Irish.

Meanwhile, the police was able identify the person who threw a flare on the field during Russia-Czech Republic match in Wroclaw, Poland. In addition, the investigators are cooperating with UEFA to determine if a Czech footballer, Gebre Selassie, became a victim of racial abuse by the Russian fans.

If proven so, the Russian team may be penalized. The possible penalty, although unlikely to happen, may include giving the victory, and three group points, to the Czech team. In the game, excellent playing Russians defeated the Czechs 4-1, making the Russian football punters explode in joy.

The events during the game in Wroclaw took an even nastier turn when a group of Russian hooligans beat up several stadium staff members and security guards. The police is seeking to identify them, and subsequently send the information to the border patrol, hoping to have them arrested once they try to cross the border. As local sources indicate, twelve of them have already been identified.

In another incident, a couple of Russian hooligans got a two-year stadium entrance ban and 2,000 PLN ($600) in fines for disrupting order prior to the game in Wroclaw.

The next game involving the Russian team is against Poland. The police and security forces are getting ready. The truth is, the Polish football hooligans are a match to their Russian counterparts.

Overall, as many as 50,000 Russians are expected to visit Poland during Euro 2012. The great majority of them are real football fans seeking to watch the games and enjoy themselves. Some, traveling in small groups, are already worried about their safety after the excesses of their less cultured comrades.

In a call to calm things down, the Russian Football Federation is asking their fans ”not to bring shame to Russia.” In another gesture, the Russian coach, Dick Advocaat, and the federation’s chief, Sergei Fursenko, visited the Smolensk catastrophe monument near the Presidential Palace in Warsaw and dropped flowers there.

The monument was erected in remembrance of the 2010 airplane accident in Russia when the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, died with a group of high-ranked government officials and army generals.