National guard captain Manuel Jorge told AFP riot police on horseback were called in to help police control fans after they threw chairs at bar windows and chanted racist songs along the main strip of the white-walled town.

"When things started to get aggressive it was necessary to use greater force to maintain order," he said.

Bars in the town were ordered to shut down as police wielding batons moved in to disperse the crowd, which responded by hurling bottles, rocks and chairs at the officers, Jorge said.

Three people were slightly injured, including a national guard who cut his foot on a broken bottle which was hurled at police, in the violence which began at around 1:30 am (0030 GMT), he added.

None of the injuries were considered to be serious.

Of those arrested, 32 were British citizens and one was Dutch.

Witnesses told the private radio TSF many of the rioting fans wore St George flags and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.

The resort, 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Lisbon, was the scene of rioting just one day earlier after some 400 mostly English football fans clashed with police along the same strip of bars.

Fourteen people were arrested Tuesday and 16 people were slightly injured in what was the first major disturbance involving English fans since the three-week Euro 2004 finals started Saturday.

The former fishing village of Albufeira is a popular resort with British as well as German and Dutch tourists.

Many English football fans are using the Algarve, one of Europe's top tourist destinations, as a base during the tournament, traveling by car or train to attend matches further north.

The 14 people detained Tuesday, including 12 England fans, a Portuguese and a Russian, were charged with public order offences and resisting arrest.

They spent the night in jail and will appear in court later on Wednesday. The foreigners are expected to be ordered deported under tough new laws against hooliganism which Portugal introduced ahead of the Euro 2004 finals, the biggest sports event ever held in the country.

The disturbance on Tuesday came less than 24 hours after Portuguese police praised visiting English fans' civility following their team's 2-1 defeat to France in Lisbon Sunday.

There was no major trouble at that match, one of three first-round games deemed "high-risk" by tournament organisers.

One England supporter was sent home after he was convicted of attacking two French fans in Portugal but police in England made over 80 arrests after fighting broke out in various locations across the country following the last-minute defeat to the French.

At the last European football finals in 2000, 850 mostly English fans were arrested after running fights in Belgium.

European football's governing body UEFA has warned the English Football Association that any repeat of the violence that marked the last finals could see England thrown out of the tournament.