Eleven arrested as protests erupt before Aston Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv match

3 hours ago 2

Those arrested were each men, boys aged betwixt 17 and 67 – the bulk for racially aggravated nationalist offences.

Published On 7 Nov 2025

Police person arrested 11 radical during heated demonstrations successful beforehand of the politically charged Europa League match betwixt Aston Villa and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv successful Birmingham.

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli supporters gathered extracurricular the stadium to protestation connected Thursday evening, but contempt the tensions, the crippled went up without large disruptions.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 items

end of list

The match, successful which the hosts bushed Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0, astatine Villa Park successful Birmingham, was held nether an enormous information operation.

West Midlands Police (WMP) said successful a connection aft the crippled that those arrested were each men and boys aged betwixt 17 and 67. The bulk were arrested for racially aggravated nationalist offences.

Other arrests included a 21-year-old who tried to propulsion fireworks into the stadium and different idiosyncratic suspected of possessing drugs with the intent to supply. Police besides detained a 21-year-old who refused to region a look covering erstwhile ordered to bash so, and a 17-year-old who ignored a dispersal order.

More than 700 officers from WMP and 25 different forces crossed the United Kingdom were deployed successful the metropolis for the match, which kicked disconnected astatine 20:00 GMT – alongside constabulary horses, dogs, drones and roadworthy units.

We've arrested six radical tonight:

🔴 A man, 21, for failing to comply with an bid to region a look mask
🔴 A boy, 17, for failing to comply with a dispersal order
🔴 Three radical arrested for racially aggravated nationalist bid offences
🔴 One idiosyncratic for a breach of the bid pic.twitter.com/Ia3CL7EgjJ

— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) November 6, 2025

The ambiance wrong the stadium was comparatively quiet, with ample sections of bare seats.

Aston Villa announced past period that Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters would not beryllium permitted to be the match, a determination made by Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group based connected quality provided by police.

Sky News reported connected Thursday that constabulary had banned Maccabi supporters owed to “significant levels of hooliganism” successful the instrumentality base, which threatened information astir the match, alternatively than implicit threats to Israelis attending the game.

“I’m alert there’s a batch of commentary astir the menace to the (Maccabi) fans being the crushed for the decision. To beryllium clear, that was not the superior driver,” West Midlands Police Chief Superintendent Tom Joyce told Sky.

“We person quality and accusation that says that determination is simply a conception of Maccabi fans, not each Maccabi fans, but a conception who prosecute successful rather important levels of hooliganism,” Joyce said.

Israeli supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv shot squad ticker the squad play against Aston Villa successful the Europa League

Maccabi supporters gully attention

Fan bans are uncommon successful European shot and are usually imposed lone erstwhile determination is simply a past of unit betwixt rival supporters. In this case, determination person been nary erstwhile incidents involving fans of Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

However, Maccabi supporters person drawn expanding attraction implicit the past year, partially owed to tensions surrounding Israel’s warfare successful Gaza. Most notably, convulsive clashes broke retired betwixt Maccabi fans and residents successful Amsterdam past season during a Europa League lucifer against Ajax.

More than 60 radical were arrested, and 5 were taken to infirmary pursuing a nighttime of unrest.

Police said anti-Israeli gangs connected scooters chased and bushed Maccabi fans.

However, verified video footage from the Reuters quality bureau showed Maccabi fans successful Amsterdam chanting anti-Arab slogans successful the days starring up to the game. Police reported that the team’s supporters besides burned a Palestinian flag, tore down another, and vandalised a taxi. The city’s politician aboriginal announced she would not big the Maccabi squad again.

Football adept Nicholas Blincoe said the hazard of unrest during the Aston Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv crippled was besides linked to what helium described arsenic the “racist” past of Maccabi supporters.

“These [Maccabi] ultras person go progressively right-wing, nationalistic, and explicitly racist,” helium told Al Jazeera.