Surveillance footage from the cameras outside the Stade de France that captured the chaos ahead of the Champions League final has been deleted. Critics are now accusing French authorities of trying to cover up the incident.
The French Football Association claims that the films were automatically destroyed because they were not requested by judicial authorities.
The revelation blocks the already hot tones around the authorities’ actions before the match. French police have been criticized for creating bottlenecks at the entrances to the arena and for using tear gas and pepper spray.
A government report states that France’s reputation was damaged by the incident and the opposition in the country was not late to hook on when the revelation about the surveillance films came.
– It is called hiding its tracks, says Marine Le Pen, leader of the nationalist party National Assembly.
The police asked for the surveillance videos, but not until it became known that they had been deleted, says a source to AFP.
The Stade de France can keep surveillance videos for up to 30 days, but the servers can only store them for a little over a week.
French police tweet that even if you do not have the material from the arena’s cameras, you still have your own available.
But the deputy chairman of the Senate Law Commission, David Assouline, said he was “paralyzed” by the news, adding that it showed an “incredible lack of coordination” between police and politicians.
– We are on the way to a state scandal, says Bruno Retailleau, chairman of the Republicans in the Senate.
The government, however, says that there is enough evidence to take the investigation further.
Background. The scandal scenes during the CL final
The final between Real Madrid and Liverpool on May 28 was postponed for almost 40 minutes after riots outside the arena Stade de France, which meant that several supporters did not arrive on time – or not at all.
Fences were overturned in several places near the stadium when supporters pressed to get to the security checks. According to witnesses, “bottlenecks” were created towards the controls.
When it all degenerated, the police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
According to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and the Uefa European Football Association, the chaos was caused by people holding invalid tickets.
Darmanin said there were between 30,000 and 40,000 Liverpool supporters at the Stade de France without valid tickets and claimed that many of them tried to enter with fake tickets.
Sources within the European Football Association (Uefa) and the French Football Association tell AFP that however, 2,800 people tried to get in with fake tickets.
Gerald Darmanin initially defended the use of tear gas, saying it “saved lives”. But during a hearing before one of the Senate committees, he apologized.
Liverpool and Real Madrid have demanded answers to what really happened and both Uefa and the French government have started an investigation into the events.
UEFA and the French authorities have received criticism from several quarters for their actions in connection with the riot. Paris police chief Didier Lallement has said the handling was a failure and Uefa apologized on its website on June 3.
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Read more: Paris police chief about CL chaos: “Failure”