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Tottenham Hotspur fans have been the victims of another attack whilst following their side
in Europe.
Spurs take on Lyon in the Europa League on Thursday.
But the match has been overshadowed by violence after three supporters were injured when they
were attacked by a group of men wearing balaclavas at the Smoking Dog pub in Lyon on Wednesday
evening.
Tottenham fan Liam Kirwan believes the violence was fuelled by anti-semitism.
"Football violence is football violence. There's always going to be punch-ups at a football
game, it happens. But last night, that was not football violence. That was neo-nazi,
anti... Jewish violence and frankly, I've never witnessed that in 37 years as a Tottenham
fan, I've never seen that before."
"Oh, this was definitely premeditated. It was well organised, three people came by about
half an hour before and spotted that the pub was full of Tottenham fans. Half an hour later,
a fifty (strong) group came back and attacked the pub, about eight minutes after that a
smaller group came back to try and enter the pub... It was a well-organised, well timed
attack, the knew what they were doing and yeah, they executed it with precision. And
the were gone before the police turned up. I believe the police arrested three out of
sixty people last night, which is pathetic, to say the least."
Historically, Spurs have been associated with a Jewish fan base.
A Tottenham fan was stabbed when a group of supporters was ambushed ahead of the club's
match against Lazio in Rome in November.