Despite the fear of riots, disturbances and clashes between Maccabi Haifa fans and Paris Saint-Germain fans, the match yesterday (Tuesday) in Paris went relatively quietly. Over 1,000 police officers secured the explosive game, which was classified as a high-risk event by Paris police. The game passed without unusual clashes between the fan camps, which were separated by police forces.
The police took a heavy hand against some fans, and arrested 14 of them during the evening, some of them Maccabi Haifa fans. According to the reports in France, among the 14 arrested are several fans who were arrested for lighting flares in the stands occupied by Maccabi Haifa fans, a French fan who picked Israelis, as well as another French fan who “robbed” the Israelis. Ultras PSG waved several Palestinian flags throughout the evening, and at the beginning of the second half pulled out a larger flag with the inscription: “Gaza exists, Gaza is fighting. Free Palestine” – but the tensions between the crowds did not turn into a real confrontation.
According to police estimates, about 5,000 Maccabi Haifa fans were present last night at Parc de France, several times the number of tickets allocated to the green fans in the first place. A considerable part of the Haifa fans who managed to buy tickets for the stands of PSG fans, were moved to an isolated area in the stand that was supposed to belong to the French, so that the police could cut through the crowds. PSG fans and also local journalists who were there were very surprised by what was defined as “an omission that allowed the Haifa fans to take over the stadium”.
“It’s an unprecedented shame. The Haifa fans took advantage of PSG’s broken system for selling tickets to take over the stands. I’ve never seen anything like this at a PSG game,” stated the team’s reporter Hadrian Garnier, and many fans expressed their displeasure on social networks. In the end, they settled for the convincing victory.