SAFE FIASCO AT STADE DE FRANCE

The Champions League final was postponed for a long time on Saturday May 28, 2022, due to incidents near the Stade de France (Seine-Saint-Denis). The gala match hasindeedtransferred to the debacle around 7:30 p.m. A kick-off postponed for more than thirty-five minutes. Images of congested supporters then sprayed with tear gas around the Stade de France. Intruders stepping over the gates of the enclosure. Stripped supporters. 27OO ticketed British supporters were unable to enter. The fiasco is resounding for the organization, and invites itself in the political field while the first round of the legislative elections is held in ten days. Between scenes of violence and overwhelmed security, the organization of the event was a serious failure.

An influx of Liverpool supporters with counterfeit tickets

This is the official version on which the Ministries of the Interior, Sports and UEFA agree. According to them, "thousands" of British supporters resorted to counterfeit tickets in an attempt to attend the Mersey club final. For the time being, it is difficult to know the extent of the phenomenon, even if a source within the organization assures us that a large number of these tickets have been identified. The FSE association evokes a “marginal” subject. One point may have favored the multiplication of these counterfeits. The Liverpool club, of which 20,000 supporters had valid tickets, asked to have paper tickets for the event. A support easier to divert than its electronic equivalent. Between 25,000 and 30,000 counterfeit banknotes were identified on Saturday evening. The prefect of police of Paris,

300 to 400 offenders

But a horde of young delinquents from the neighborhoods were also largely responsible for the mess that was created at the Stade de France. The number of 300 to 400 young people who looted personal effects and tickets for the match is mentioned. These young people also committed physical violence against the supporters present to enter the stadium. "We have undocumented thugs and city thugs who came opportunely to rob mainly Spanish and English spectators by stealing their personal effects, mobile phones and wallets and there were many thefts from vehicles parked around the Stade de France”, reported Matthieu Valet, spokesperson for the independent union of police commissioners to CNEWS. In addition, Jérôme Jimenez, Ile-de-France UNSA Police spokesperson,

Liverpool supporters and British officials were furious on Sunday. The Liverpool club immediately called for the opening of an investigation "to determine the causes of these unacceptable problems". On Sunday, Britain's Secretary of State for Sport, Nadine Dorries, called on "UEFA to launch a formal investigation to find out what went wrong and why, in cooperation with stadium staff, the French police, the French Football Federation, the Merseyside Police [the Liverpool region] and Liverpool FC”.

After this fiasco on Saturday, the ability of France to manage the crowds of supporters is called into question by the foreign press. An image of France once again tarnished two years before the Olympic Games in Paris.



Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld