2023-05-31 22:45:15
If RC Lens celebrated its superb 2nd place and its direct qualification for the Champions League group stage last Saturday after its success at the expense of AC Ajaccio (3-0), testimonies from northern supporters denouncing attacks sexual abuse and harassment in the stands have been emerging on social networks for the past few days. The artesian club takes them very seriously and has launched an investigation. They report facts that criminally correspond to sexual assault and/or sexual harassment. The voice of the North collected the testimonies of several women victims of these attacks.
Among them, Céline, 27, who went to the Bollaert stadium for the first time in 2019. Last year, when leaving the toilet during the first half of a match, three men prevented her from to go out. “I ask them to let me pass. Once, twice… Two of them start advancing towards me in an insistent way. I start to panic, I try to push them, but I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. One of them is blocking the door, the other two are glued to me. I could smell the alcohol in their breath. They said to me: “You’re good, what are you doing here? I ended up screaming. A steward passes at this moment and asks if there is a problem. He cleared them, and on the way there is one who touched my buttocks, ”she says. “I met exceptional people at Bollaert, but there are some who have nothing to do there and who tarnish the image of the supporters,” she adds. Since this episode, she has never returned to the stadium.
Emma, 17, is wary of “those who take advantage of crowd movement and allow themselves to have wandering hands”
La Voix du Nord also evokes the case of Camille, 24 years old. She too broke the silence after suffering several cases of sexual harassment. Last April, returning from a trip to the Parc des Princes, the bottom of the bus began to sing “And the blonde we’re dilapidated”. Then, on his birthday, part of the gallery began to sing: “Go ahead, Camille, show us your buttocks, go ahead Camille, show us your ass”. From now on, when she takes her place in the stands of Bollaert, she “tends to put on a big sweater” which will hide her body, because some have taken a picture of her in the stands without her knowing it. Emma, 17, knows that she must be wary of “those who take advantage of the movement of the crowd and allow themselves to have their hands wandering when the opportunity arises, most of them being heavily alcoholic”
To our colleagues, RC Lens indicated that it had opened an investigation: “It is a very good thing if the floor is free, even if it is abrupt for the club. We had never had any feedback of this type, otherwise we would have acted immediately. If people have been victims of such acts, we invite them to file a complaint and get closer to the club. The message is also passed on to security personnel: in the event of a report in the middle of a match, people must be able to intervene. If there are victims, we will be on their side”. The management adds: “If there is a report and the facts are proven, these people will no longer set foot in Bollaert. There isn’t the shadow of a place for people like that. Lens is joyful fervor and it must remain so.
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