UK police admit 'mistakes' over Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban |
UK police on Wednesday admitted "mistakes" over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a Europa League football match against Aston Villa in Birmingham, as calls mounted for the under-fire local chief constable to be sacked.
West Midlands Police and its chief constable Craig Guildford have been under mounting pressure about how they came to the decision, which sparked political outrage in Britain and Israel.
Birmingham's population is 30 percent Muslim, according to the last census in 2021, and has seen several protests in support of Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza, including on the night of the match.
Interior minister Shabana Mahmood on Wednesday said she had lost confidence in Guildford, after a preliminary policing watchdog report found the force "overstated" the threat posed by Maccabi fans to justify the ban.
"The chief constable of West Midlands Police no longer has my confidence," Mahmood, who is also a local Birmingham MP, told........