Police thank the community for peaceful actions during controversial Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv face-off as update issued on arrests
Police have thanked the community after the controversial Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv game passed 'without major disruption'.
West Midlands Police have offered words of thanks to the Birmingham fans and the football community after the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League fixture yesterday 'passed without major incident'.
It comes as the force staged a major operation consisting of around 700 police officers from more than 20 forces across the country, dog units, roads teams and drones, to safeguard the controversial match.
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The match was dubbed 'controversial' due to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the action of disallowing the Tel Aviv supporters from attending the Villa Park match.
The force said that following small pockets of disruption, 10 people were arrested on suspicion of a variety of crimes, including racially aggravated abuse towards both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine groups, and officers.
Today, five remain in custody, including a man, aged 21, who is accused of trying to throw fireworks into the grounds, and two other men, aged 24 and 29, who are accused of racially aggravated public order offences after shouting abuse at pro-Israel demonstrators.
Despite the arrests, the force said that attendees 'were able to exercise their right to protest', adding that they have received positive feedback from those who attended on the day.
They also gave a word of thanks to the people of the community, thanking them for their support in the build-up to the match, and for sharing concerns.
Chief Superintendent Tom Joyce, of Birmingham Police, said: "A huge amount of planning went into the operation, with the aim of preventing crime and disorder and disruption to the game, and keeping everyone safe.
"The operation achieved its aims of keeping everyone in attendance safe, and this is down to the hard work of all the officers and staff, from West Midlands Police and other forces around the country.
"People were able to exercise their right to protest, whilst others came to enjoy a football game, and we have already had some positive feedback from members of the public who were there.
"Our work to listen to the concerns of Birmingham will continue, and we remain proud to serve such a diverse region.
"We’d like to thank the people living in and around Aston who have worked with us closely in the build-up to the game. They shared their concerns with us, and we are able to respond to those concerns and make them a part of our preparations for the day."