FANS have told of their horror as riot police were called in to stop crowd trouble at Burnley's pre-season friendly against Hannover.

Clarets supporters said many young fans were reduced to tears as the violence escalated at Turf Moor. Police took the decision to abandon the game at half-time as they realised there was an ‘extreme risk’ to the safety of supporters.

A police officer and three stewards were injured following the disorder, which occurred after fans of the German Bundesliga side charged towards home supporters during the first half at Turf Moor.

Officers are now urging anyone who filmed the disorder to send them the footage.

Fans of the German side also threw seats into the home section of the stand just minutes before the half-time whistle.

Chief Superintendent Chris Bithell said: “The disorder we saw yesterday has no place in football, and certainly not in Lancashire. Children and families were in attendance at what was a pre-season friendly match, which should have passed peacefully and without incident – but which ended up being abandoned due to the behaviour of some of the travelling Hannover fans.

“Overnight we have collated and trawled through footage of the disorder, but we believe there will be more people who have videos on their phones which could help with our ongoing investigation.

“Anybody who has such footage is asked to send it to us as soon as possible.”

Police said 40 minutes into the game a large group of Hannover fans attempted to breach segregation and attack home supporters.

Police officers and stewards being attacked and Lancashire Police decided, in consultation with the referee and the club’s ground safety officer, that the game could not continue.

Extra police were drafted in from across the county and the visiting Hannover fans were escorted from the stadium and away from the ground to ensure no further disorder took place.

The police officer suffered a head injury and was treated at Burnley General Hospital. He has since been discharged.

Two stewards who suffered minor injuries were treated at the scene, and one, who suffered a dislocated shoulder, is undergoing treatment in hospital.

Clarets columnist for the Lancashire Telegraph Andrew Greaves was in the stand where the trouble kicked off.

He said: “A load of Hannover fans came charging towards us and started chucking seats, coins and bottles.

“I missed the first goal, as I actually had a seat whistle past me.

“The response from the police and the club’s security was fantastic though, as they quickly managed to get fans to safety into the James Hargreaves Stand.

“It really was out of order though as there were mums and their kids at the game and you just don’t expect it.”

As the players were late emerging for the second half it soon became clear that the game was under threat.

Burnley confirmed the game had been abandoned on police advice over the PA system.

Home fans were asked to leave first, while Hannover’s 390 fans were kept waiting for a short while.

The German fans were then marched through the town centre by police back onto trains.

No arrests were thought to have been made.

Chief Supt Chris Bithell said the decision was taken to abandon the game following “violent behaviour” by a group of travelling Hannover fans.

He said: “A decision was been taken to abandon the football match between Burnley FC and Hanover 96, following consultation between the police match commander, the referee and Burnley FC’s grounds safety officer.

“This follows violent behaviour by a group of travelling Hanover fans, who attempted to attack fans in the home stands, as well as police officers and stewards.

“Although a robust policing operation was in place for the match, based on pre-game intelligence, additional resources have now been brought in from across the county to ensure no further disorder occurs.”

Burnley boss Sean Dyche backed the police’s decision and said his side had been informed at half-time.

He said: “They called us in and said ‘look, we’re going to call it off for the safety of all involved, stewards, fans, police etc’.

“That was pretty early, the police were in the referee’s room, called me, went through the procedure, and obviously we fully support the police’s decision.

“You hope that’s gone out of the game, and it generally has. The police called it early, no one wanted anything other than a game of football.”

After scoring Burnley’s goal in front of the Cricket Field End, Mee signalled for calm from the fans, and Dyche added: “To be fair, I think Ben was innocently saying ‘calm down’, I’ve looked at the footage. He’s a solid citizen.”

Fans also took to Twitter to express their shock at the crowd trouble.

One fan, Craig Foulds tweeted: “My three-year-old wanted to leave before half-time and was frightened.”

Another fan Adam Williams tweeted: “Terrible behaviour by the travelling fans, minority ruin it for the majority. Fighting where women and children are is disgusting.”

Jack Phillips tweeted: “Who in their right mind would start throwing chairs at us Burnley fans?

“There are kids in that stand, are they thick, they could have killed a kid.”

Send footage of the disorder to police online at http://socsi.in/TqiAp, quoting log 546 of August 5.