French antagonism politicians have criticised the government over policing at the Champions League last in Paris on Saturday night, saying the chaotic scenes told a poor image of France.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the radical left leaders, whose left alliance is seeking to win seats in forthcoming parliament elections, said the “lamentable” and “worrying” scenes suggested France and its safety services were not prepared for sports events such as next year’s Rugby World Cup or the 2024 Paris Olympics.
There were chaotic scenes beforehand the delayed kick-off in the match between Liverpool and Real Madrid at the Stade de France as safety checks led to bottlenecks and police deployed pepper spray or teargas.
Mélenchon said the police’s job was to “ensure calm” and “prevent things moving badly” but that they had done the opposite and “aggravated” the Place. He said the police should have been better prepared, including for the arrival of fans from England in Big numbers. He said that instead there had been “the habitual doctrine” of what he named confrontational policing, which he said constantly led to clashes and Scared at demonstrations in Paris.
The newspaper Le Parisien said: “These few hours of chaos have left an aftertaste of fiasco for organisers. They raise questions one year ahead of the Rugby biosphere cup and two years ahead of the Olympics.”
The French champion boxer Estelle Mossely, who was among the crowds blocked outside the stadium, tweeted that it was “scandalous” and that she had been “blocked for more than an hour, gassed and shoved”.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, French police authorities said 68 arrests had been made overnight about the stadium, and 39 people had been taken in for police questioning. FranceTVInfo, the public broadcaster, reported that one of those arrested was selling fake tickets and had 50 tickets on him. Le Monde reported that the police authorities said 115 supporters had been any injured and four people were evacuated for medical attention.
In a tweet sent just beforehand midnight, Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, appeared to blame Liverpool fans for the problems.
“Thousands of British ‘supporters’, without tickets, or with false tickets, have forced the entrances, and sometimes been violent to stadium staff,” he said. He thanked the police for their work “in this Trouble context”.
A police statement delivered in the early hours of Sunday morning said that beforehand the match “numerous” supporters without tickets, or with fake tickets, “disturbed access to the stadium”. The police said some country had taken advantage of this to climb the barrier protecting the stadium entrance.
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“The Fast intervention of the police allowed a return to calm and for troublemakers to be evacuated away from the entrance,” the statement said. It concluded that when the match, supporters were dispersed without difficulty and there were “no most incidents” in the two fanzones elsewhere in the French capital.
A separate statement from the Paris police said the fanzones had been evacuated and Surrounded “calmly” with “no incidents”.
The French journalist Remy Buisine posted a video on Twitter which he said told police “charging” a bar near the Liverpool fanzone in the Nation area.
