BRUSSELS, Belgium — Several hundred police used tear gas and clubs to subdue rampaging English hooligans awaiting Saturday's tense game with Germany in soccer's European Championship.
The fans smashed up two bars in the historic heart of the capital, destroyed cars and broke windows. Police moved in, throwing fans to the ground and handcuffing them.
In Charleroi, where the game is to be played, an Englishman was hospitalized with stab wounds, police said. The circumstances of the attack were unclear, but his life was not in danger.
Police arrested 137 fans, and 21 were injured in the first significant violence of the 16-nation tournament.
Brussels Mayor Francois-Xavier de Donnea said a group of English hooligans set off the spree of mindless violence with racist taunts and songs.
"Then hundreds of British hooligans got into a fight with Belgians of North African descent," the mayor said.
The England-Germany game has been a flashpoint of the tournament, with Europe's most notorious fans from the two nations. German fans, however, were not involved in any trouble in Brussels so far.
Bourse Square and Grand Place were sealed off by riot police after fighting broke out, with chairs and tables flying and windows crashing. English hooligans were chased by security forces and cornered.
In Charleroi, 30 miles away, there was scattered fighting and police were on alert. One man got out of a car outside a bar and started clubbing indiscriminately at drinking English fans, injuring one in the head.
Belgium had tightened border controls, and at least two dozen known hooligans or drunken fans were sent back to England since Thursday, bringing the total of people forced to leave since the tournament opened to 56, Belgian interior ministry spokeswoman Monique de Knop said.
That provided little comfort to the 200,000 citizens in Charleroi who have been dreading the weekend for months.
"There has been a change in the mood of the locals. Many look uncomfortable and have fear in their eyes," bartender Eric Devers said.
Groups of mostly English fans arrived Friday, a day ahead of the game, and were seen catching some sun at many of Charleroi's pavement cafes during the day. Fans started mingling in the bars on Place Charles II, but the beer was sold in plastic cups.
Police kept a low profile early on in Charleroi, but their totals will grow to some 3,000 by gametime Saturday night.
So far in Belgium, 223 people have been detained during Euro 2000 and 99 officially arrested and charged, mainly following riots at the UEFA Cup final between England's Arsenal and Turkey's Galatasaray last month. Fears have increased that hooligans may turn Charleroi into a battleground. Charleroi also has a sizable Turkish immigrant community.
Police promised a zero-tolerance approach Saturday and created special holding cells that can contain hundreds of fans.