England fans celebrate peacefully day after first notable World Cup trouble

Drunk with delirium after their team's 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago, England fans celebrated peacefully Thursday night with dancing in the streets and howls of joy and relief.

Photo: England fans celebrate peacefully day after first notable World Cup trouble

It was the kind of post-game mood German and British police had hoped for and eased, for now, concerns about the kind of fan-police clashes that resulted in hundreds of arrests Wednesday in the city of Dortmund.

There were no reports of trouble following Thursday's game, which England won with two late goals, deputy police chief Mark Huennemeyer said. Fans appeared to be primed for a good time, not a fight.

"So far, everything is cool," Huennemeyer said.

German officers had worked with their British counterparts to control the tens of thousands of British fans in town.

The threat of hooliganism has been an off-the-field focus of the monthlong World Cup, and England's supporters have been among the most violent at major tournaments in Europe. In preparation, British authorities confiscated passports of known hooligans and Germans drew up extensive policing plans.

While much of the focus was on the English, Dutch and Polish, it was Germans who broke the tournament's opening calm before their team's victory over Poland in Dortmund.

When officers tried to apprehend a group of men they described as hardcore hooligans, the men responded by throwing bottles and chairs and shooting fireworks, police chief Hans Schulz said. More than 100 Germans were arrested in that incident and 429 in the city overall, including 119 Poles, police said.

By Thursday morning, all but three had been released.

Tournament organizers lamented that the clash occurred near the stadium where special guests included a French policeman who was beaten into a life-threatening coma by German thugs at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Also late Wednesday in the northern port city of Bremerhaven, police used tear gas to disperse people threw bottles into a crowd that was watching the game in a public viewing area, police spokesman Uwe Mikloweit said. Several fans were slightly injured; five people received written summons, reports AP.

O.Ch.