Fan behavior at Euro 2016 in France keeps getting crazier. Earlier this week, a fight between fans got completely out of control, with bottles and furniture flying through the air. It seems like every day people are just getting knocked out in the streets because of their soccer allegiance. Alcohol and nationalism have long been a dangerous combination, but the scenes this year have been truly disturbing, Now, children are being brought into this disaster.
Drunk England fans are accused of humiliating a group of French refugee children aged 7-9—allegedly paying one boy to drink a pint of beer, throwing coins and encouraging them to fight over money, and giving them cigarettes, among other things, according to The Telegraph.
English fans are mocking at gipsy children throwing them coins pic.twitter.com/vWMuGrq0QV
"It's horrible to watch," an eyewitness told The Telegraph. "The children kept going back to the same group. At one point, one of the English lads picked one of the boys up and swung him around. Then others threw change at the kids. It's so insulting."
Journalist Michael Stothard, of the Financial Times, captured some of the scene.
England fans in Lille just got begging 7 year old to down a whole beer in exchange for some coins. #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/XeaeaSzb3G
Stothard also saw fans give a cigarette to a child and said they "looked disappointed" as he stamped it out. There are also unconfirmed reports that children fought each other for money.
BuzzFeed is reporting another witness saw two English soccer fans "cheering on" a young boy as he drank a full bottle of beer. When he finished it, "One of the fans then gave him a handful of coins."
It's an understatement to say these fans are out of control.
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