{"id":554712,"date":"2025-11-07T08:18:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T08:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/554712\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T08:18:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T08:18:14","slug":"aston-villa-maccabi-tel-aviv-protests-police-arrest-11-in-villa-park-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/554712\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv protests: Police arrest 11 in Villa Park area"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The league phase match at Villa Park, which the hosts won 2-0, became a major political event after the Israeli club\u2019s supporters were banned from attending due to fears over their safety.<\/p>\n<p>The decision was made by Birmingham\u2019s Safety Advisory Group, with Villa having no involvement, but it sparked a parliamentary-level debate as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called it \u201cwrong\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" data-width=\"525\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Eleven people have been arrested in the area.<\/p>\n<p>Two were detained after abuse was shouted towards pro-Israel demonstrators, another after abuse was shouted at a pro-Palestinian group, and another after a police officer was racially abused.<\/p>\n<p>Full update \u2935\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pef3LIEjy2\">https:\/\/t.co\/pef3LIEjy2<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mlFD0dfP68\">pic.twitter.com\/mlFD0dfP68<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WMPolice\/status\/1986577519844479050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">November 6, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>More than 700 police officers were deployed amid a huge security operation, which involved police horses, police dogs and a drone unit ahead of planned pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests.<\/p>\n<p>Eleven arrests were made in the area, five of which were on suspicion of racially aggravated offences. The others included failure to comply with orders and breaching the peace.<\/p>\n<p>A pro-Palestine protest was held outside the Villa\u2019s stadium before kick-off, where hundreds turned up with Palestinian flags and anti-Israeli banners.<\/p>\n<p>Speeches were made calling for an end to violence in Gaza and for the Israeli club\u2019s expulsion from UEFA as well as \u2013 bizarrely \u2013 the Eurovision Song Contest.<\/p>\n<p>There was a flashpoint as a woman holding an Israeli flag walked past but she was quickly escorted away by police before it escalated.<\/p>\n<p>There was also a counter-Israeli protest at the other side of Villa Park, with protesters holding up signs reading \u201cKeep antisemitism out of football\u201d, while five flatbed vehicles were driven past the ground carrying electronic billboards showing messages opposing antisemitism.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2.82315380.jpg\" alt=\"Police officers remove a pro Palestine protester outside Villa Park\" data-title=\"Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv \u2013 UEFA Europa League \u2013 League Stage \u2013 Villa Park\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Joe Giddens\" data-usage-terms=\"Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder.\"  \/>Police officers remove a pro-Palestine protester outside Villa Park (Joe Giddens\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>One of the messages, beside a Star of David, read \u201cBan hatred not fans\u201d while another carried a quote from Thierry Henry saying football is not about goals but bringing people together.<\/p>\n<p>There were some unsavoury scenes as Villa fans chanted Tommy Robinson\u2019s name as they walked past the pro-Palestine protest, with police quickly intervening.<\/p>\n<p>Villa had implemented a strict ticketing policy, which only allowed people with a previous purchase history to buy them.<\/p>\n<p>Fans were also warned against displaying flags or political banners as per UEFA regulations, a request that was adhered to throughout.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2.82315819.jpg\" alt=\"Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv \u2013 UEFA Europa League \u2013 League Stage \u2013 Villa Park\" data-title=\"Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv \u2013 UEFA Europa League \u2013 League Stage \u2013 Villa Park\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Martin Rickett\" data-usage-terms=\"Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder.\"  \/>Away fans were banned from Aston Villa\u2019s clash with Maccabi Tel Aviv (Martin Rickett\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>It was cordial between the two teams before kick-off as the stadium announcer encouraged Villa fans to give their visitors a warm welcome, while the hosts walked out with mascots dressed in the Maccabi colours.<\/p>\n<p>The absence of the away fans was showcased by a large swathe of empty seats in the Doug Ellis Stand, but fears there would be trouble in the ground soon passed, with Villa fans resorting to gallows humour.<\/p>\n<p>They chanted \u201cS*** support my Lord\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019ve only come to see the Villa\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It was a largely benign atmosphere inside the stadium as Villa coasted to the win, which aids their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages directly.<\/p>\n<p>Goals from Dutch pair Ian Maatsen and Donyell Malen secured a 2-0 victory.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The league phase match at Villa Park, which the hosts won 2-0, became a major political event after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-554712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115507437552118639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}