Police charge 46 men over violence at Villa Park

Of those, 43 have been charged with a public order offence, while two have been charged with assaulting police officers and another has been charged with possession of a knife.

Serious disorder took place outside the stadium during the Aston Villa vs Legia Warsaw game.

Those charged are aged between and 21 and 63, and around 40 of them are believed to be from Poland. A small number are believed to be UK residents.

All apart from one of the men was due in court today. He has been bailed to appear at a later date.

A special court has been set up at Birmingham magistrates and was beginning to hear the cases this morning.

Police are continuing to review CCTV and body-worn video footage to identify further suspects involved in the violence, which saw five officers suffering minor injuries.

Two of these were from West Midlands Police, two from West Mercia and one from Derbyshire. They are receiving support at this time.

Two dogs from West Midlands Police and two horses from Thames Valley were injured and are recovering.

Detective Superintendent Jim Munro, who is overseeing the criminal investigation, said: “Our investigation is very much continuing and we’ll be reviewing footage and speaking to witnesses over the coming days.

"To charge this number of people so soon after such a major disorder has taken a huge effort by staff who have been working around the clock.

"We’ve had a number of messages of thanks from the club and fans who were present on Thursday night and saw the policing operation first hand, and we are really grateful for that support.”