Liverpool supporters and local officials were furious at the organization of the Champions League final at the Stade de France on Saturday May 28, after thousands of fans were unable to enter the enclosure and were violently pushed back by the police. The final, won 1-0 by Real Madrid, was marred by scenes of chaos.
A final of Champions League which starts more than thirty minutes late. Supporters blocked against the gates of the Stade de France, where they cannot enter. Fans who came with their families, sprayed with tear gas by overwhelmed police, while young people climbed the gates of the stadium. These scenes of chaos have ruined the biggest annual meeting in European football. The party could have turned into a tragedy if the supporters in question had not shown, for the most part, great calm in the face of events.
All those who were there and who know the place agree in saying it: the origin of this absolute disorder is the management, or rather the absence of management, of the flows of supporters arriving at the Stade de France and the disorganization checkpoints to access its immediate perimeter.
Overwhelmed stewards
A fiasco in three acts which begins at Châtelet station. The RER B, the most convenient means of transport to reach the Stade de France, being on strike on Saturday evening, supporters are invited to use the RER D, which is much less convenient to access. At the exit of the station, the British must then take a tunnel in order to access the entrance doors reserved for them. A first filter, with verification of tickets and summary search, is in place a few meters further. But with only four corridors and about twenty reception agents dedicated to this system, the crossing point quickly turns into a bottleneck in which 15,000 supporters find themselves stuck for several hours, when they could have been redirected to another entrance where control operations were much smoother.
As often, this first malfunction leads to another. While ticket holders find themselves stuck there, many young French people take advantage of the chaotic situation to enter in force by placing themselves between the controls and the crowd. The stewards find themselves overwhelmed and around 8 p.m., just one hour from the official kick-off, the checkpoints are blown up. From then on, anyone can access the Esplanade of the Stade de France.
The situation escaping him, the security of the stadium therefore decides to close the doors of the enclosure for an hour. The police intervene, with charges and tear gas, mainly to deter free riders who climb the gates. According to the journalists present, there are very few English people among them. But the Liverpool supporters crowded around them are not spared.
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England fans singled out
These were immediately singled out as the main, if not the only, responsible for the overflows. The brand new Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, thus denounced Saturday evening “ the attempts of intrusion and fraud by thousands of English supporters… and reported 30,000 counterfeit banknotes. A figure that remains to be verified.
But this type of fraud is not unheard of for this kind of event and does not on its own explain the malfunctions that spoiled the evening. “ With the Minister of the Interior, we deplore the incidents that marred the evening of the Champions League on Saturday evening at the Stade de France and regret that some supporters with tickets were unable to attend the match. “Explained Amélie Oudéa-Castéra in a press release published on Sunday.
The English, especially those in Liverpool, have not forgotten the failings and lies of their own police during the Hillsborough tragedy, where 97 people died in 1989. They are therefore awaiting further explanations from French authorities.
The French Senate, dominated by the right-wing opposition, will hear ministers Gérald Darmanin and Amélie Oudéa-Castera this week on the incidents that occurred on Saturday near the Stade de France during the Champions League final. The Ministers of the Interior and Sports will be heard jointly by the Law and Culture Committees, the Senate announced in a press release on Monday, June 30.
Gérald Darmanin denounces a “massive, industrial and organized fraud of counterfeit banknotes”
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin denounced Monday, May 30 a ” massive, industrial and organized counterfeit banknote fraud “During the Champions League final enamelled with numerous incidents on Saturday evening around the Stade de France. ” 30,000 to 40,000 English supporters ended up at the Stade de France, either without tickets or with forged tickets “, added the Minister of the Interior to the press after an interministerial meeting organized on these dysfunctions. Mr. Darmanin defended the system put in place by the Paris police headquarters to secure the final. “ To have been there, without the decisions taken by the police and the prefect, there would have been deaths “, he said, bringing” all his support to the prefect Didier Lallement, whose methods of maintaining order are the subject of numerous criticisms. The Minister said to himself, sorry ” for spectators with tickets who were unable to attend the match and expressed his ” regret for the spectators who suffered from the use of tear gas used by the police. France must improve ” in the management ” risky games “, affirmed for her part the Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games Amélie Oudéa-Castera. The Minister also stressed the need to “strengthen the management of major events” in view of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, organized in France, and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. ” We have seen that we had to improve a fortiori in high-risk matches, on certain aspects of the management of flows leaving transport in areas of first filtering, second filtering “, Estimated Amélie Oudéa-Castera during a press conference.