Police last night praised the way the Island?s Italian inhabitants celebrated their World Cup victory over France.

Scores of revellers staged a mini-street party outside Portofino restaurant and Splash nightclub in Bermudiana Road after the dramatic 5-3 win on penalties.

And although Police were in attendance at the impromptu party, force spokesman Dwayne Caines said there were no reports of any arrests.

He said: ?It was just people enjoying themselves, it was in a responsible manner. There was one occasion that people were celebrating on top of their cars and Police said basically ?get down?.

?People were being very responsive to the Police requests.

?We just want people to enjoy themselves.

?They celebrated but they did so in a manner that did not cause too much disruption to the rest of the community.?

Celebrating Italian fan Pasquale Pastore, 44, a supervisor for restaurant chain MEF, said Police had asked people not to drink in the street because it was a Sunday.

?They were all right, they understood the situation,? he said. ?But for us it would have been easier if they could have blocked the road.

?I didn?t understand why they didn?t do that.?

Police briefly closed the adjacent Par-la-Ville Road to traffic when a small fire broke out in the laundry room at Portofino. A fire engine attended at about 8 p.m. and the blaze, which was not connected to the celebrations, was extinguished.