Big-eared cougar
The Ministries of Sports and the Interior are sticking to their version of Saturday evening in Saint-Denis: it was the fake tickets of English supporters who derailed the Champions League final.
A “exceptional pressure” on law enforcement. Ahead of a crisis meeting with UEFA and the French Football Federation, this is the summary offered Monday by the new Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, of the evening of chaos during the Champions League final on Saturday evening in Saint Denis. “We have to take the measure of all the things that have happened“, argued the minister on RTL, referring to between 30,000 and 40,000 people holding fake tickets or even no tickets to attend the match at the Stade de France.
“When there is this mass of people on the forecourt, there are attempts to force the gates of the Stade de France into which, in fact, young people from the neighborhood have tried to rushshe continued. There was a combination of difficulties. The decisions were taken to avoid there being a crush and to avoid – this was one of the major concerns of the prefect of police – that there was a disaster of invading the stadium and that this disrupting the game. .” The Minister of Sports also charged the Liverpool club accusing him of having “left his supporters in the wild” unlike Real Madrid, which accompanied its supporters from start to finish.
The emergency meeting will be chaired by the Minister of Sports and the Minister of the Interior in the presence of the organizers of the final – won by Real Madrid (1-0) -, UEFA and the French Football Federation, as well as representatives of the Stade de France, the Paris Police Headquarters, the Prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis and the town hall of Saint-Denis, the municipality where the stadium is located.
“Disorganization”
On the side of the Ministry of the Interior, after twenty-four hours of denial, we are starting to talk about “malfunctions” and of “disorganization”. “There is a shared responsibility between many actors”, put into perspective Monday on France Info the spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior, Camille Chaize. As images of police vehicles creating bottlenecks circled the world, she justified the “strategic choice to lift pre-filters”.
Except that apparently this is what contributed to reinforcing the chaos: spectators with printed counterfeit tickets could only be checked further away, with scans. “The subject today is to go beyond the ‘it’s the fault’ and to ensure that it does not happen again”evaded the spokesperson for LREM, Prisca Thévenot, on Public Senate.
The evening was notably marked by images of English fans being gassed by the police. “This is one of the most regrettable dimensions of what happened, undoubtedlystill recognized Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. The prefect of police has expressed his deepest regrets and I am sorry that families have been inconvenienced.
Lallement takes legal action
On the political spectrum, some did not hesitate to exploit Saturday evening for their legislative campaign, such as the Reconquest candidate Eric Zemmour.
In a report sent to Gérald Darmanin on Sunday and of which AFP was aware, the prefect Didier Lallement, regularly criticized for his methods of maintaining order deemed too brutal, counter-attacked by announcing to seize justice on “Massive Counterfeit Money Fraud”. He estimated “necessary to identify those responsible for this fraud” who “could have had very serious consequences for the safety of spectators”.
Police officers, who requested anonymity, on the ground Saturday described multiple scenes of snatching. “It didn’t stop. We have seen teams make countless flights.said one of them. “It was badly managed”he said, criticizing the choice “to put the local staff in static while they are those who know the most local delinquency. It wasn’t consistent.” “It was a mess”summed up another.