Impressive security system for the France-Israel football match scheduled for November 14 at the Stade de France near Paris. After the violence in Amsterdam a week ago, where Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were targeted, the meeting is considered “high risk” by the French authorities.
2 mins
The Paris police chief promises a very unusual arrangement for this meeting between France and Israel. 4,000 members of the police: 2,500 police officers and gendarmes around the stadium, 1,500 in the streets of Paris and in transport, i.e. double the number of a usual international match, whereas less than a third of the stands of the Stadium France will be fulfilled. The French Football Federation is counting on 20,000 places occupied, out of the 80,000 on the site. This will be the lowest attendance for the Blues in this legendary stadium.
It must be said that the security context is particular after the Amsterdam violence last week. Added to this is the very late opening of the ticket office, the holding of the meeting having been uncertain for a long time. All this has cooled the French supporters. For their part, the authorities of the Hebrew State have called on their nationals not to go to Francefor security reasons. Only around a hundred people should make the trip, and join a parking area dedicated to visitors in the stands.
Throughout the stadium, the seats located in the front row, closest to the players, will remain empty in any case, in order to avoid any intrusion onto the pitch.
A very political dimension
The match between France and Israel organized this evening at the Stade-de-France actually no longer has much to do with football. It took on a political significance, in particular because of the presence of Emmanuel Macron.
When Emmanuel Macron announced his desire to go to the Stade de France, it was a matter, said the French head of state, of sending a “ message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable anti-Semitic acts which followed the Amsterdam match “. It is therefore a question of taking a position in the national debate against those who demanded, like La France Insoumise, that the match be canceled to protest against the war in Gaza or those who feared violence.
Being present aims to display its firmness and to reassure the Jewish community which had criticized the president for his decision not to participate in the march against anti-Semitism organized in Paris after the October 7 massacres in Israel. It is also about sending a diplomatic message in a context of tensions with Benyamin Netanyahu who advised Israeli supporters not to go to Paris.
Emmanuel Macron, supported by his Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, but also by his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande who will also be present at the Stade de France. The sporting aspect of the meeting has thus become anecdotal.
Also listenLeague of Nations – France-Israel match eve under heavy police surveillance