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While the British government renewed its criticism of the French security forces, France’s sports minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, said the island’s fans were primarily responsible. The police in Paris registered more than 100 arrests and 230 injuries around the final.Paris/London. Oudéa-Castéra told the broadcaster RTL on Monday that 30,000 to 40,000 people without a ticket or with fake tickets had rushed to the Stade de France and caused massive security problems there. It still needs to be clarified where the counterfeit tickets came from in such large numbers. The minister also accused Liverpool of not taking good care of their fans like Real Madrid and leaving them to their own devices.
Crisis meeting on Monday
The minister regretted the use of tear gas, which also affected uninvolved fans, families and children. At the same time, she confirmed that France was able to organize major sporting events and referred to the 2016 European Football Championship. Together with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, Oudéa-Castéra wanted to take part in a crisis meeting on Monday morning to deal with the chaos at the Stade de France.
Different views were heard from London and Liverpool. “I was appalled by these images of French police using pepper spray against fans including children and the disabled,” UK Secretary of State Chris Philp told Sky News on Monday. “And from the images I saw, there was no apparent justification for that type of behavior.” Philp from the Ministry of Culture responsible for sport demanded that UEFA urgently investigate this procedure.
Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson has called the French police’s crackdown on British fans “extremely disgusting”. The police acted “brutally” and the way the game was organized was “chaotic,” Anderson, who was in the stadium herself, told the BBC on Monday. Liverpool supporters should be given an apology. Anderson had previously announced that she would seek answers from UEFA for British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and French President Emmanuel Macron to investigate the incidents.
UEFA explained the chaos at the entrance to the large number of fans without valid tickets. The turnstiles at the entrance for Liverpool fans were blocked because thousands of supporters with fake tickets could not go through them. The police used tear gas. The kick-off time was pushed back by more than half an hour. Fan representatives criticize a one-sided representation by UEFA.
Source: Nachrichten
