England fans held after skirmish

German police have praised most England fans' behaviour

Sixteen German police officers were slightly hurt and 15 England fans arrested after a skirmish in Cologne.

One England fan was hurt in the disturbance in a central square packed with around 2,500 people. The condition of the injured fan is not known.

Bottles and chairs were thrown and police said officers used pepper spray.

The incident, ahead of England's game against Sweden, was resolved quickly in what was otherwise a rowdy but trouble-free night.

The injured police officers suffered cuts after several England fans pelted them with glass bottles in the city's old town.

Police said the trouble began after an England fan climbed a statue and accidentally dropped a beer bottle onto the people below.

BBC correspondent Jane Peel in Cologne said fans then began to throw bottles and chairs and at some stage the man on the statue fell.

He was taken to hospital but his condition is not known.

The riot police ran 20 yards towards the English and were relentless in their clubbing Joe, blogger BBC Sport's World Cup blog

Stefan Schwarz, of Cologne police, said officers in riot gear had to step in after they were pelted with bottles and that they had used pepper spray to reduce the threat.

One of the injured officers, who was female, was taken to hospital with a foot injury.

Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Thomas, who heads the English police mission to the World Cup, said six fans had been detained in the old city.

Another fan was arrested for trying to break into Cologne's Rhein-Energie stadium, while six were held for brawling among themselves. Another fan was detained for being too drunk to stand.

Our correspondent added that despite the trouble there have been few problems involving England fans, whose behaviour has been praised by the German police.

'Difficult day'

England play Sweden in their final group qualifying match of the World Cup on Tuesday evening in Cologne.

Ahead of the game, the most senior British police officer liaising with the German authorities during the World Cup predicted that Tuesday would prove to be "the most challenging day" so far in the tournament for the police.

ACC Thomas said the atmosphere would be fantastic but it was likely to be a "very difficult day."

"I think it's a very difficult day today for Cologne police because, not only have they got German supporters and English supporters and Swedish supporters, they've got some other people from other nationalities here," he said.

However, he pointed out that the police operation in the area was "very good" and the factors he had mentioned had been "taken into account during the planning stages".