Police arrests German, England fans

BERLIN, June 10 (Reuters) German police today said they arrested more than 20 soccer fans -- most of them German and English -- amid violence overnight in the city of Frankfurt following the World Cup opening matches.

Three German and three English fans were taken in after a brawl close to the city's central station.

Police said they had also arrested 15 people in another part of the city following brawling in a restaurant, among them were five Germans, one English and two Polish fans.

In a third incident in the region four more people were taken in, two of them German.

A spokeswoman for Frankfurt police said the arrested had been drunken fans and not, as initially reported, hooligans.

''They were simply soccer fans who had been drinking too much,'' she said, declining to be named. ''I don't think last night was anything out of the ordinary. It's rather a positive result for an event of that magnitude.'' British police, in Germany to support the hosts' security effort, were awaiting more precise details before commenting when contacted by Reuters today.

'MANY OFFICERS' Some 30,000 England fans are expected to descend upon Germany's fifth largest city today for their team's match against Paraguay.

Frankfurt's police forces said they were ready for the game, kicking off at 1300 GMT.

''We are going to deploy very many police officers today,'' the spokeswoman said, not giving any numbers.

Most of those arrested were freed in the early morning after paying fines, police said.

Last night, England and German fans taunted each other in an hour-long stand off on a central square in Frankfurt following the host nation's 4-2 win in the opening game against Costa Rica. Police kept the two sides apart.

Following violence at previous tournaments, the English are trying to show that they have cleaned up their act.

Nearly 80 English police officers, some of them in uniform, are working during the World Cup in the host country to help their German colleagues curb violence and trouble among fans.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an interview with daily Bild that he was confident the two countries police forces were in control of the situation.

''The English and the Germans are working very well together,'' he was quoted as saying in Bild's Saturday edition.

''At the moment everything is peaceful and this is the way it should be in the future.'' REUTERS DH KP1343