West Midlands Police issue a statement with 11 arrests made during the protests at Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday night.
The atmosphere inside the stadium was subdued with some empty seats due to safety concerns and no away fans. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were banned from attending on safety grounds following advice from West Midlands Police and Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), informed by prior violent incidents in Amsterdam.
Maccabi voluntarily declined any ticket allocation, citing fan safety and rejecting claims of widespread racism among supporters.
Over 700 officers (including mutual aid), police dogs, horses, drones, and protest liaison teams were deployed.
A Section 60 stop-and-search order was in force until 3am on the 7th of November. Drone flights were banned within 1 nautical mile of Villa Park.
Far-right Zionists are starting to get rattled by people who are against a genocide at the Aston Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv match in Birmingham #football #maccabitelaviv #astonvilla #birmingham pic.twitter.com/aLNvc8EzTx
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) November 6, 2025
Shortly before kick off police had to separate Villa fans the pro-Palestinian protesters.
They began chanting at each other and throwing bottles.
Officers quickly gained control and pushed fans back towards to gates to enter the stadium. pic.twitter.com/E4Wz1OZGVm
— Lewis Warner (@LewisJWarner) November 6, 2025
Atmosphere here has just turned.
Villa fans started chanting at the pro-Palestine protesters.
Bottles have been thrown and police dogs are out. pic.twitter.com/xcO16aqF0s
— Lewis Warner (@LewisJWarner) November 6, 2025
WEST MIDLANDS POLICE STATEMENT:
Eleven people, all men or boys, have now been arrested in the area:
A 63-year-old man arrested for a racially aggravated public order offence after he was heard shouting racist abuse during a road rage incident near Villa Park
A 21-year-old man arrested after refusing to remove a face covering while a Section 60 order was in place
A 17-year-old who was issued with a dispersal order but refused to leave
A 34-year-old arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after shouting abuse towards pro-Israel demonstrators
A 29-year-old man arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after shouting abuse towards pro-Israel demonstrators. He was also arrested for possession of class B drugs
A 67-year-old man arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after shouting racist abuse at a police officer
A 32-year-old man arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after shouting racist abuse towards a pro-Palestine group
A man aged 21 arrested after trying to throw fireworks into the ground
A man arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply drugs.
The far-right have turned up to the protest against Maccabi Tel Aviv and were taunting pro-Palestine protesters. Police had to forcefully intervene to prevent clashes from breaking out between the two sides. pic.twitter.com/C0Qn3XJbId
— 5Pillars (@5Pillarsuk) November 6, 2025
Villa fans sing songs at the pro-Pals in Birmingham and it all KICKS OFF. The pro-Pals hate any dissent and they throw missiles at the fans and try to get at them and have to be pushed back by police. Why were the protesters allowed so close to the ground?
🎥@AshPhillipsUK pic.twitter.com/rVFNO1W5am
— Heidi Bachram 🎗️ (@HeidiBachram) November 6, 2025
Their previous statement read:
Hundreds of extra officers are on duty in Birmingham tonight, as Villa Park plays host to Aston Villa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv.
We’re used to policing high profile football fixtures, events, and demonstrations, and as ever, our focus is on keeping the public safe.
We know protests by different groups are taking place, and our plans balance the right to protest with our duty to protect all communities.
In planning for this match our goal has been to make sure that supporters can enjoy the fixture, whilst we facilitate peaceful protect, and continue to keep people across the West Midlands safe.
Crime and disorder will not be tolerated and anyone found to be breaking the law will be dealt with directly.
Chief Supt Tom Joyce, Birmingham Police Commander, said: “Our officers are being supported by officers from up and down the country as part of mutual aid.
“This has definitely been one of the most contentious and controversial matches we’ve hosted for some time, but our priority, really clearly, is public safety.
“It’s about protecting the communities that live in and around Aston Villa, and reassuring those communities who are potentially affected by the match tonight.”
In the build up to this fixture, we have worked closely with several different faith and local community groups and we have listened to their views and concerns. We continue to do this tonight, as we will after tonight’s game.
As part of our efforts to prevent crime and keep the public safe, we have Section 60 powers in place until 3am tomorrow (7 November), which allow us to stop and search people without the need to have reasonable grounds.
Colleagues from across the force, as well as police horses, police dogs, our drone unit, roads policing unit, and protest liaison officers, are joining together for tonight’s operation, and a high-visibility police presence will remain in place around Villa Park through the night.
Drones are also restricted from flying with a one nautical mile radius of Villa Park until 11.59pm tonight (6 November).
Aston Villa said in their statement that the decision to ban away supporters from Villa Park “follows an instruction” from Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), based on the advice of West Midlands Police.
Safety Advisory Groups are responsible for issuing safety certificates for matches.
The Health and Safety Executive government website, Safety Advisory Groups are “non-statutory bodies and so do not have legal powers or responsibilities, and are not empowered to approve or prohibit events from taking place.
“Event organisers and others involved in the running of an event retain the principal legal duties for ensuring public safety”.
West Midlands Police tell Sky’s @RobHarris that a section of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s supporters engaging in ‘significant levels of hooliganism’ are to blame for the decision to ban them from an away game against Aston Villa.
Full story 🔗 https://t.co/MONjybHaTI pic.twitter.com/Qm79VTwIOG
— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 6, 2025
The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) was also involved in advising on the decision.
“The UKFPU supported West Midlands Police in gaining access to the full details of the previous incidents in Amsterdam via the European policing network so they had all the relevant information available to them,” it said in a statement.
“Following this, the Home Office were briefed last week by the UKFPU about the potential issues and options that the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) may take including restrictions on visiting fans.”
Maccabi said: “The well-being and safety of our fans is paramount and, from hard lessons learned, we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans, and our decision should be understood in that context.
“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
The statement questioned the motives of those seeking to justify the ban.
“We acknowledge the efforts of the UK government and police to ensure both sets of fans can attend the match safely, and are grateful for the messages of support from across the footballing community and society at large,” said the club.
“Our first-team squad consists of Muslims, Christian and Jewish players and our fan base also crosses the ethnic and religious divide. We have also been working tirelessly to stamp out racism within the more extreme elements of our fan base.
“It is clear that various entrenched groups seek to malign the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan base, most of whom have no truck with racism or hooliganism of any kind, and are exploiting isolated incidents for their own social and political ends.
“As a result of the hate-filled falsehoods, a toxic atmosphere has been created, which makes the safety of our fans wishing to attend very much in doubt.”
Sky Sports News’ Rob Jones said after the game: “We are coming to the end of the night here at Villa Park and you get the sense that the major players involved are glad that it is passed without any major incident.
“Right from the moment that the Birmingham Safety Advisory Group said last month that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans wouldn’t be allowed to travel for this game. They always had the potential for something to go off here.
“But other than one slight flashpoint at half time when Villa fans came out of the ground, there were pro-Palestinian supporters on the other side of this fence chanting.
“It has all gone relatively smoothly. You would say helped by this significant police presence.
“More than 700 officers, horses, dogs, and they have all done their bit this evening to keep this safe for the majority of the match going fans inside the ground.
“Well, the atmosphere was pretty flat as you would expect a fair amount of empty seats. Some Villa supporters clearly detracted from attending today because of some safety concerns and the unknown as to what might happen. But Villa got the job done on the pitch a 2-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv, goals in either half.
“But that was very much the subplot here. The main story was what might happen outside the ground.
“I think everyone had going into this night have largely been allayed and this is a fixture and something that Aston Villa and everyone else involved will be pretty keen to move on to move on from quickly.”
