Police have announced a dispersal order in Epsom and Ewell for the final of Euro 2020 after multiple reports of anti-social behaviour from England fans in the borough.
The police said they "don’t want to spoil people’s fun" but pointed out that after various incidents of anti-social behaviour they had been forced to act.
Said a spokesperson for Surrey Police on Friday (July 9):
"We have received an increased number of reports of anti-social behaviour across the Epsom and Ewell borough recently.
"Many of these reports relate to incidents involving those watching the football in the borough’s pubs.
"The vast majority have behaved responsibly but unfortunately we have seen a minority of these fans engaging in low level anti-social behaviour.
Owing to recent reports of #ASB following football matches a dispersal order has been put in place for #Epsom&Ewell this Sunday, July 11 from 8pm till Monday, July 12 at 7am. Call us on 101 to report any incidents of ASB. Click here for further info https://t.co/qxqYPNkjNK pic.twitter.com/v5eIsvJF1P
— Epsom and Ewell Beat (Surrey Police) (@EpsomEwellBeat) July 9, 2021
"A dispersal order covering the whole of the borough has been put in place under Section 34 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, which gives us the power to ask a group of two or more people to leave the dispersal area if they are committing anti-social behaviour, or if we believe that they may, or are likely to, cause a nuisance to someone else."
England will play Italy in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley on Sunday, July 11.
With kick off at 8pm, police said their dispersal order will be active from 5pm on Sunday and run through 7am on Monday.
Epsom and Ewell Borough Commander, Jon Vale, added: "We don’t want to spoil people’s fun and the enjoyment of the game but we do need to think about the local community who have been impacted by this behaviour in recent weeks.
"We have had to cover the whole borough with this order as there are a large number of licensed premises across the area and we need to cover parks and local open spaces where ASB can also occur."
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