Police injured as objects thrown at officers outside Villa Park

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At least three officers have been injured during clashes outside Villa Park
By Maisie Olah
BBC News, West Midlands

At least three police officers have been injured during disorder ahead of Aston Villa’s game with Legia Warsaw in Birmingham.

Villa were hosting the Polish side in their Europa Conference League tie.

West Midlands Police said fans of the Polish side were prevented from entering the stadium after objects were thrown at officers.

The force urged people to avoid Witton Lane if possible.

Riot police were outside Villa after missiles were launched at officers

Villa condemned the violence and confirmed during half time that no away fans were allowed into the game on the advice of police following large-scale disorder outside caused by visiting supporters.

Earlier Legia hit out at the Birmigham club publicly for what they described as restrictions on the number of tickets for away fans, accusing it of stoking tensions.

However, Aston Villa said the away ticket allocation was reduced to 1,002 following the advice of safety authorities, after Dutch police officers were injured during large-scale disorder at Legia’s match against AZ Alkmaar last month.

“In spite of numerous requests for cooperation from Legia Warsaw concerning their travelling supporters, especially in the last two days, no assistance on the serious safety matter of away fans attending Villa Park was forthcoming from the visiting club,” Villa said in a statement.

“The club has repeatedly, including this morning, raised concerns in conjunction with UEFA and all the relevant authorities to Legia that ticketless away supporters were attempting to attend Villa Park.”

An injured police officer was seen being helped away by two colleagues

Witnesses on X, formerly known as Twitter, said they had seen several people arrested outside the stadium and areas of Villa Park had been damaged with various items being thrown.

A video was also posted on the social media platform showing objects being thrown into the ground from what is believed to be Trinity Road.

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