Six people have been arrested during protests outside Villa Park ahead of the Europa League clash between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv. The build-up to the Europa League match on Thursday night has been overshadowed by controversy with a ban being imposed on the Maccabi fans from attending the match at Aston Villa stadium Villa Park.There was a heavy police presence in and around the ground with over 700 officers deployedGettyThere were some displays of Israeli flags outside the ground amid a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans inside the groundAFPPolice said earlier on Thursday that they banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from their match at Aston Villa due to ‘significant levels of hooliganism’ in their fan base – rather than threats to visiting Israelis.The decision on the ban was even criticised by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, with the government portraying the exclusion of Israeli fans as anti-semitic. However, no change in decision was forthcoming with tickets later not being made available for visiting fans. West Midlands Police had previously stated that the decision to ban away fans was “based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam”.That incident saw 62 people get arrested by Dutch police after the disorder around the match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv last year.Earlier on Thursday, West Midlands Police gave their official line on why the Maccabi fans were banned for this game.“We are simply trying to make decisions based on community safety, driven by the intelligence that was available to us and our assessment of the risk that was coming from admitting travelling fans,” Chief Superintendent Tom Joyce told Sky News. “I’m aware there’s a lot of commentary around the threat to the [Maccabi] fans being the reason for the decision. To be clear, that was not the primary driver. That was a consideration.“We have intelligence and information that says that there is a section of Maccabi fans, not all Maccabi fans, but a section who engage in quite significant levels of hooliganism.“What is probably quite unique in these circumstances is where as often hooligans will clash with other hooligans and it will be contained within the football fan base.Police referenced violence during a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax when explaining their decision to ban fansGetty“We’ve had examples where a section of Maccabi fans were targeting people not involved in football matches, and certainly we had an incident in Amsterdam last year which has informed some of our decision-making.“So it is exclusively a decision we made on the basis of the behaviour of a sub-section of Maccabi fans, but all the reaction that could occur obviously formed part of that as well.”Maccabi’s clash at Ajax last season saw five people get convicted following a series of attacks on Israeli fans. However, there was also violence from supporters of the Israeli league champions, including anti-Arab chants.Maccabi chief executive Jack Angelides insists there were ‘blatant falsehoods’ spread about the trouble in Amsterdam and also complained about a lack of clarity over the ban imposed by West Midlands Police.“We are absolutely not saying that in Amsterdam that the only fans causing trouble were the Maccabi fans,” Chief Superintendent Joyce added.Several pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside the ground pre-matchGetty“But what we were very clearly told is that they played a part in causing trouble particularly a day before the match.“That absolutely resulted in following day there being attacks on Maccabi fans.“So it wasn’t all one way, but… escalating violence as a consequence is what we were trying to prevent here in Birmingham.”What happened on the nightNo Maccabi Tel Aviv fans allowed inside Villa Park, but there were plenty just outside the ground with a number of Star of David flags being held Over 700 police officers were deployed to the area with the authorities bracing themselves for clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters, especially with the Aston area of Birmingham, where the stadium is located, consisting of a high concentration of Muslim people. Protesters came in their hundreds, with six arrests made over a half-hour period at the time of writing. However, it’s widely reported that the protests did not turn violent at the time of writing. The pro-Palestine protesters made their stance clearAFPDespite the odd skirmish, it appears the police have a firm lid on the situationChants of ‘death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)’ were heard, while pro-Palestine protesters were told to ‘fall back in line’ by police at a corner of the stadium on Trinity Road.The Independent adds that later in the evening the pro-Palestine protesters had been angered after being joined by a group of people appearing to show their support for right-wing political activist Tommy Robinson. Police subsequently removed the pro-Palestine protesters off Trinity Road with the protest moving to a grass verge off the main road to the stadium.Meanwhile, the group who confronted the pro-Palestine protestors were moved away. talkSPORT’s man on the ground, Nick Ellerby, reports that police made six arrests with three for racially aggravated public order offences, while one arrest was for disturbing the peace.