Six England fans still in German custody

Six England soccer fans remain in custody in Munich.

They are among 47 people, including 35 Britons, arrested from Friday onwards for alleged offences ranging from drug matters to robbery, German police say.

The other Britons have been released.

German authorities are considering whether to take further action against those still in custody, which may not be known for at least some days.

Once the World Cup qualifying match was over, police also freed 135 people, including 43 Britons, who had been taken into preventive detention because it was feared offences would be committed.

There was sporadic trouble involving English and German fans in the hours before the match in various parts of the city centre. It involved hand-to-hand fighting and bottles and glasses being thrown.

Ten police officers were hurt, including one who suffered a broken nose.

Munich Police vice-president Eberhard Roese says there had been about 300 English "hooligans" and 400 German "hooligans" with about 1,000 people on each side who had a tendency to violence.

Assistant chief constable Ron Hogg, the senior British officer advising the Germans, says the 300 English who wanted to cause trouble were "an absolute disgrace".

But he said police had prevented 600 troublemakers travelling to the match and 10,000 England fans who went to it had behaved well, so the problem needed to be kept in proportion.