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The prefect of police of Paris, Didier Lallement, recognized Thursday morning a “failure” of the police management of the Champions League final organized on May 28 at the Stade de France and admitted that the figure “of 30,000 to 40,000 people “without a valid ticket” had no scientific virtue.
The prefect of police of Paris recognized, Thursday, June 9, before the Senate, that the police management around the final of the Real Madrid-Liverpool Champions League on May 28 was “obviously a failure”.
“It’s obviously a failure,” said Didier Lallement, mentioning the “jostling or assaulted” people and the “shaken image” of France. “It’s an injury for me,” he added.
Returning to the figure, mentioned by the French authorities, of 30,000 to 40,000 people without a valid ticket for the match, Didier Lallement admitted that he “did not have a scientific virtue”.
It was simply “the feedback of information which was absolutely capital: there were far more people than the capacity of the stadium and that if these people had put pressure on the roadblocks and then on the gates, we were going to extreme difficulties”.
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“Maybe I was wrong (…), but I never claimed that this figure was a few thousand perfectly fair.”
This estimate, taken up by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, is disputed by many observers, as well as by the British.
Didier Lallement was nevertheless satisfied that “the match is held and above all that there are no serious injuries and no deaths”.
“The doctrine of maintaining order” is not in question
The prefect said his “sincere regrets” to British and Spanish supporters and encouraged them to file a complaint, which has been possible since Monday by downloading a form from the website of the French Embassy in the United Kingdom.
“The internal security forces were not responsible for checking tickets” at the level of pre-filtering at the exit of public transport, he noted, underlining “the responsibility of the organizer”.
“With the late and massive arrival, this control was embolized” at the exit of the RER D, he continued, while there was a strike on the RER B. He regretted that the prefecture of police did not have “accurate information” about Liverpool supporters.
Regarding the use of tear gas by the police on the forecourt of the stadium, the prefect repeated twice that it was the “only police means to push back a crowd except to charge it”, this which would have been a “serious error”. He said he was “sorry” for “people of good faith, there are some”, who breathed these gases, but according to him “the doctrine of maintaining order” is not in question. He conceded a “maneuvering problem”.
The prefect of police has been heard before the Senate culture and law committee since 10 a.m. Will follow, from 2:30 p.m., several officials of the French Football Federation (FFF): Philippe Diallo, vice-president, Florence Hardouin, general manager, Erwan Le Prévost, director of institutional relations, and Didier Pinteaux, security manager.
Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram will also be heard at 4 p.m. He himself was present at the Stade de France and was the victim of pickpockets.
With AFP