The senators who are investigating the incidents that occurred at the Stade de France, on the sidelines of the Champions League final on May 28, have made their first conclusions. “Unpreparedness upstream, lack of responsiveness during and questionable management” of the French authorities are pointed out by the president of the Law Commission, François-Noël Buffet, and that of Culture, Laurent Lafon, after their trip to the Stade de France Thursday 16 June.
The two senators, Republican for one, centrist for the other, were not kind to the authorities after their visit to the security headquarters and on the forecourt of the Stade de France. “There are many malfunctionsthe facts are of a rare gravity and the consequences could have been dramatic “explains Laurent Lafon from the start. He specifies that the senators relied on the report that the interministerial delegate for major sporting events Michel Cadot submitted last week to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. While pointing out that ” some malfunctions were noted by Mr. Cadot, others not at all “.
The main ” malfunctions » denounced by the senators
Three caught their attention, but none refer to the number of England supporters who would have come with counterfeit notes that night. It was, however, the evil root according to the Ministers of the Interior and Sports, Gérald Darmanin and Amélie Oudéa-Castera. They are not even mentioned by the elected representatives of the High Assembly.
For them, these three major dysfunctions are: the poor orientation of the flow of supporters, the faulty management of delinquency around the Stadium and the non-conservation of video surveillance images of the sports enclosure. Concretely, they particularly criticize the withdrawal, by the prefect of police Didier Lallement, of the signage indicating at the exit of the RER D a relief route to redirect the supporters towards the almost empty pre-filtering points which were much more numerous. at the RER B exit.
A request from the French Football Federation – not accepted – which would have prevented 15,000 British supporters from literally finding themselves stuck in a bottleneck. This led to the lifting of the pre-filtering, ordered hastily by the same prefect to avoid drama when the pressure proved to be too strong. This is the dysfunction The most important “, denounces François-Noël Buffet.
” The doctrinal choice » of the prefect Lallement
The senators are also very critical of the management of the acts of delinquency that took place that day. Acts that have been put under the rug “, they say, by police forces whose device was entirely focused on the strategy of maintaining order. The first attacks took place at noon, however, they argue, deploring the lack of reaction from the police.
” A doctrinal choice ” from prefect Lallement, to favor the management of supporters to the detriment of public safety, says François-Noël Buffet. A choice that the prefect also assumed during his hearing in the Senate. “ But it’s not a good choice “, criticizes the president of the Commission of the laws.
His counterpart for culture, he says he is struck ” by the difficulty of all the French actors to grasp the specificity of the English public », who is used to traveling in droves to support his favorite team during major events, even without a ticket. “ This is not new “Recalls Laurent Lafon and UEFA stated it during the preparation meetings.
► To read also: Clashes at the Stade de France: “These crowd movements could have done a lot of damage”
The deletion of videos, a “ serious misconduct »
The latest malfunction it is the non-conservation of video surveillance images of the Stade de France. ” A serious fault, unacceptable “, castigates Senator Buffet who is surprised that no one had the lucidity to say:” We keep these pictures “, while a judicial police officer and, it seems, a deputy prosecutor, both competent to seize them, were present at the Stade de France security headquarters.
On arrival, concludes Laurent Lafon, the conjunction of these dysfunctions gives the impression that there is ” no responsible, therefore no culprit “. But ” all who have failed are, at some point, tied to the state », adds François-Noël Buffet.