While the Champs-Elysées should be invaded at the end of the semi-final of the World Cup between France and Morocco, this Wednesday, December 14, a large police force has been deployed, faced with the fear of overflows.
[Mise à jour le 14 décembre à 19h21] The Christmas lights shine brightly on the Champs-Elysées this Wednesday, December 14, 2022. Crowds are pacing between Paris’ best-known thoroughfare but, ahead of the World Cup semi-final between France and Morocco, many businesses have decided to play it safe by installing wooden panels in front of their windows. Saturday evening, after Morocco’s victory over Portugal in the quarter-finals, Moroccan fans celebrated their qualification on “the most beautiful avenue in the world”, to the sound of horns and waving their flags. A festive spirit tarnished at the end of the evening when clashes took place between thugs and the police, several windows on the avenue suffering the damage of this violence. While celebrations are expected and hoped for by all at the end of the meeting between the Blues and the Atlas Lions, whoever wins, a large police force is deployed on the cobblestones leading to the Arc de Triomphe . A festive evening is looming even if overflows are feared.
10,000 police officers mobilized in Paris and France
With such a cheerful crowd announced in the streets in major French cities, the authorities have taken the necessary measures to avoid overflows as much as possible. 10,000 police and gendarmes are mobilized from the middle of the afternoon this Wednesday, December 14, reaffirmed the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on France 2 this morning. 5,000 members of the police must patrol Ile-de-France, almost half of them only in Paris, i.e. double the numbers usually mobilized for this type of event. The other 5,000 police officers are divided into regions in major cities which should also witness scenes of jubilation this evening. After the announcement of the reinforcement of the police forces, Gérald Darmanin recalled this Wednesday on the set of the 4 truths that “our Moroccan friends like all French supporters are welcome”. And to add: “Our job is not to prevent them from partying but that they do it in the right security conditions”.
The Champs-Elysées open to traffic
The Ministry of the Interior is working hard on the strength of the police to supervise the spontaneous demonstrations expected after the France – Morocco match. But he deemed it unnecessary to close certain avenues to traffic, including those of the Champs-Elysées, which are nevertheless regularly invaded by supporters during post-match celebrations. The French and Moroccan supporters were also the first to go there after the respective victories of their teams during the quarter-finals of the World Cup. It was after these demonstrations, during which overflows took place, that the mayor of the 8th arrondissement of Paris, Jeanne d’Hauteserre, asked for the avenue to be closed to traffic to avoid incidents. Following the negative response from the police headquarters, the city councilor reported to TF1 News : “I am told that we want the supporters to be able to come and celebrate if they wish. If everything happened each time in joy and good humor, I would not have asked for that, but here, unfortunately , we are used to breakage and damage”.
If the most beautiful avenue in the world will not be closed, at least in the early evening, the police headquarters plans to reduce access to the capital by closing four gates of the Paris ring road from 6.30 p.m. Similarly, several metro entrances or RER stations will be inaccessible according to the Minister of the Interior, who leaves it to the prefect of police to decide on the details of the security system. Gérald Darmanin, also indicated on France 2 that if search devices cannot be put in place, 500 checkpoints will be set up in the major stations of Paris from 6 p.m.
Outbursts and dreaded riots
It’s almost a domino effect. The closer the teams get to the World Cup final, the more the demonstrations of joy are followed and the more excesses can come to disrupt the festivities. The examples of the rallies on Saturday, December 10 on the Champs-Elysées, and elsewhere, after the qualifications of France and Morocco in the semi-finals during which 170 people were arrested, raise fears of more numerous excesses. Not that the French or Moroccan supporters were more aggressive than others when it came to expressing the pride of seeing the national teams advance in the competition. The fear of witnessing scenes of disorder comes rather from the almost systematic interference with post-match demonstrations by delinquency of opportunity, a phenomenon of which the intelligence services are aware, as indicated in a note consulted by European 1 who predicts: “If the majority of people will gather in a festive spirit, the troublemakers will know how to take advantage of these large gatherings to cause disorder”. Firing of mortars and other smoke bombs or processions of cars rolling between the crowds could come or be organized by spoilsports.
The intelligence services also evoke phenomena which could be similar to riots at the end of the France – Morocco meeting while the Moroccan team has become the symbol of pan-Arab solidarity at this stage of the World Cup. The only representatives of Africa and the Arab world still in competition and the first to go so far in the history of the World Cup, Moroccan players are now strong with the support of all Muslim peoples. Consequently, “if Morocco wins, the overflows could intensify and extend to other sectors with strong Algerian or Tunisian representation, in particular in sensitive neighborhoods which were not concerned during the previous match”, analyzes the document. The thinking is simple: with more people mobilized at rallies, riots could occur more quickly.
Precedents for excesses during the World Cups
The security arrangements for the semi-final match between France and Morocco seem to be the subject of very special preparation. But why ? The large number of French supporters and that of Moroccans ready to shout their pride, who do not have to be ashamed by the number, is a reason for the carefully thought out security. As said above, the fact that the game is a semi-final match adds to the need to be ready, but it also comes from the examples of tragic incidents on the sidelines of a World Cup which are not lacking.
During the 2022 World Cup, no later than Saturday December 10, the use of mortars and crowd movements could have turned tragic. Another example that no one has forgotten is that of 1998. France world champion for the first time and the French of all origins and all social classes in the streets. Unity was king this evening and yet, there again troublemakers on the sidelines had spoiled the party by driving cars into the crowd gathered on the Champs-Elysées, causing one death and 147 injuries in the process. This Wednesday, December 14, a rally comparable to that of 1998 is not planned, but the Ministry of the Interior says it is preparing for demonstrations during the small final and the final, Saturday and Sunday, because for sure France and the Morocco will be there again.
Violent far-right protests possible
The presence of a few thugs sneaking into the mass of supporters and uncontrolled crowd movements will be monitored by the authorities, but the police are preparing for another factor of possible excesses after the France – Morocco match: the far right. Which presents the demonstrations of the support of the Moroccan football team as claims and the premises of a “civilizational confrontation” between France and Morocco. While the two countries certainly have a common history and special relations influenced by a colonial past, far-right groups are the only ones to politicize the sporting event as much. And they are the ones who could initiate violence during the demonstrations this Wednesday according to information fromEuropean 1. The media cites for example a Strasbourg hooligan group, the “Strasbourg Offender”, “composed of neo-Nazis, identity and ultra-nationalists [qui] would have planned to take to the streets of the city center after the match to “patroll” there. In Corsica too, testimonies suggesting that far-right groups, already responsible for attacking Moroccan supporters during previous matches of the Atlas Lions, could reiterate this evening have come back to the ears of the police, reports again European 1. On December 10, after Morocco’s victory in the quarter-finals, young Corsican nationalists made xenophobic remarks such as “Arabi Fora”, the Corsican expression for “Arabs out”.