England fans went on the rampage in Marseilles last night, smashing bar and restaurant windows and hurling bottles at police.
French police with riot shields, helmets and visors fired tear gas at a group of around 500 supporters who had congregated outside an Irish bar in the city's Old Port area.
The violence came after a day of high tension. Earlier six people - at least four of them English - were arrested after England supporters responded to a procession of cars waving Tunisian flags by launching volleys of bottles.
The ugly scenes are a grim omen for this afternoon's World Cup match between England and Tunisia at Marseilles' Velodrome Stadium and may deal a fatal blow to England's hopes of staging the 2006 World Cup finals.
As dusk fell, a line of CRS riot police, wearing gas masks and holding long truncheons and riot shields, faced a group of several hundred chanting England supporters along the quayside. Behind them were large groups of Tunisians waving flags, and small parties of Arabs dashed forward to engage in occasional skirmishes with England fans.
A woman cafe owner ran screaming in front of the England supporters who had just smashed the windows of her small establishment by hurling flower pots, tables and chairs.
As she screamed "stop, please stop" the fans responded only with chants of "England, England".
One fan told a friend: "This is what the World Cup is all about."
After a tense stand-off lasting around half an hour, French riot police, firing volleys of tear gas, advanced on the fans, to loud cheers from local onlookers.
One bystander, who gave his name only as Marcel, said: "I'm not a hooligan. I've come here for the football and the festival and I've been tear-gassed and I can't even walk around my own town because of these bastards."
By 9.15 p.m. local time, the entire Old Port square had been cleared by police, and lines of officers in riot gear ringed the area.
Rival groups of fans were confined to separate side streets surrounding the square, and groups occasionally charged down one of the maze of small roads, causing bystanders to flee.