Paris (AFP) – A first government investigation report on the incidents of May 28, 2022 at the Stade de France submitted to the Prime Minister on Friday concludes with a series of ” failures » and deplores a police response to the incidents having carried a « serious damage to the image of France “.
In his report, the interministerial delegate to the Olympics and major events, Michel Cadot regrets ” highly publicized scenes of operations to restore order (…) which have raised questions from outside observers about our country’s ability to deliver and succeed in the major sporting events of which we will soon have the responsibility “.
Two years before the Olympics, the report recommends the establishment of a national steering body for international sporting events of major interest, on the model of that already in place for the Paris Olympics.
” Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has instructed the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games to take up the recommendations it contains in order to implement them without delay. “said Matignon in a press release.
Regarding the reasons for the failure, the 30-page document goes back to the preparation, establishes a sequence of the evening, details the ” malfunctions » and distributes the responsibilities of each, without overwhelming one or the other of the actors.
Referring to a ” embolism ” and an ” rupture ” of the control and security system, the report judges that “ the organizers and the police suffered » the crisis situation and points of « runtime issues “.
For the interministerial delegate, the triggering element remains the ” poorly controlled influx of excess public without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, in unprecedented proportions “.
But he calls for relativize » the first version of the Minister of the Interior who had initially mentioned up to 40,000 English supporters without a valid ticket near the stadium.
On a more positive note, Mr. Cadot recalls that 97% of the spectators were able to attend the match while the fan zones installed outside the enclosure did not pose any problem of disturbance to public order.