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Tuesday, 13 June 2006, 15:08 GMT 16:08 UK

City centre bans England matches

Soccer fans in Exchange Square - courtesy of Manchester Evening News England fans will not be allowed to watch live home matches in the centre of Manchester following arrests during the screening of Saturday's game.

To avoid future trouble with drunk and disorderly fans, the BBC and Manchester City Council have decided not to screen any England matches in Exchange Square.

Instead, a new Big Screen will be set up in Castlefield and fans will have to apply for free tickets to gain access.

All other World Cup games will continue to be shown in Exchange Square.

However, England v Trinidad and Tobago will not be shown on 15 June as authorities claim they will not be able to guarantee crowd safety.

Troublemakers

A total of 12,000 fans packed out Exchange Square in the city's main shopping district at the weekend - twice as many as were expected - and extra police had to be drafted in to deal with the crowds

City Centre Councillor Pat Karney said: "Manchester's outdoor events are very well attended and the majority of the crowd are well behaved.

"From time to time a small minority of trouble makers unfortunately jeopardise the enjoyment of others.

"Manchester will not tolerate this behaviour and will take measures to prevent it."

The Big Screen in Castlefield will be ready for England's match against Sweden on 20 June.

All future screenings of England matches will be ticket-only affairs but it is yet to be decided how they will be distributed.

Mr Karney added: "Manchester is keen to continue the world cup screenings and all partners including the police, the NHS, City Centre Management and the BBC are working together to ensure crowd safety is paramount."



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Related to this story:
World Cup big screenings scrapped (12 Jun 06 |  England )
Fans bitter over match screening (12 Jun 06 |  West Midlands )
Violence as England game screened (11 Jun 06 |  Merseyside )

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