About 22,000 police officers were deployed in France during the PSG and Arsenal match, including 8,000 in Paris, as last year there were also riots after PSG’s victory in this tournament. To reduce disturbances, tram traffic was suspended in Paris, several metro stations were closed, and in some places, bus traffic was also halted.
Highlighting the increased use of fireworks aimed at law enforcement officers, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said at a press conference that 57 security personnel were injured and that “219 participants were injured in France, eight of them seriously.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced the death of a young man after a motorcycle accident on the Paris ring road and said that a person stabbed with a knife in the capital is in critical condition.
L. Nunez said that the 780 detainees represent a 32% increase compared to last year’s celebration of PSG’s Champions League victory.
Six vehicles and premises of two companies were damaged.
A group of fans also stormed the Paris ring road, temporarily stopping traffic and burning flares, reported AFP news agency photographer.
About 20,000 people gathered on the Champs-Élysées in Paris to celebrate the dramatic victory after a penalty shootout in the Hungarian capital Budapest, police said.
Before the match, shops boarded up their windows to avoid last year’s riots when youths ransacked stores on the Champs-Élysées and other streets. Hundreds were detained then.
On Saturday, a couple of dozen flares and about 100 fireworks were confiscated, and a bus stop near the Champs-Élysées was vandalized.
The match took place at the same time as singer Aya Nakamura performed at the national Stade de France stadium in Paris, rapper Damso at the La Defense arena, and the French Open tennis championship matches were also underway.
Police reported that a bakery and a restaurant near PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium were damaged. Tens of thousands of people gathered inside the stadium to watch the match, but outside there were between 4,000 and 5,000 people who threw various objects at officers.
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About 150 people “tried to break through one of the stadium gates,” but officers repelled them, a police spokesperson said.
Some individuals also tried to build a barricade from rental bikes, which the police dismantled.
An AFP journalist at the scene reported clashes between police and fans near the stadium, with officers responding with tear gas after fireworks were launched at them.
These images outraged France’s far-right, and Marine Le Pen, who has run for president three times, wrote on the social network X that “only in France does a football club’s victory cause riots.”
“Only in France on the night of a victory does everyone feel forced to lock themselves in their homes to avoid violence,” she added.
L. Nunez said a “very strong, very reliable system” was created to curb violence.
“Our duty is to guarantee everyone a celebration that is calm and completely safe,” said a police spokesperson.
On Sunday afternoon, players will participate in a parade on the Champ de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower, where about 100,000 people are expected, and later the footballers will be received by President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace.
