The chaotic events that plagued the Champions League final are a “honor to our country,” a French senator said today, amid rising calls for a comprehensive probe into how thousands of Liverpool fans in Paris were detained for hours before being tear-gassed by police.
After Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin stated fans who arrived with ‘false’ tickets were to blame, Michel Savin, who leads a French government study group studying large sporting events, condemned Mr Darmanin of ‘unfairly putting the finger upon Liverpool supporters.’
Mr Savin said the vast majority of fans ‘behaved very well’ – contrary to claims from French police chiefs, UEFA, and the French sports minister – as he joined the UK’s Nadine Dorries and Liverpool bosses in calling for a ‘rapid’ inquiry to establish the facts.
‘I consider [this] to be a humiliation for our country which is preparing to host the [2023] Rugby World Cup and then the [2024] Olympic and Paralympic Games,’ he told French TV station BFMTV today.
He spoke as Mr Darmanin met with French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, chief of Paris police Didier Lallement, the French football association and stadium officials in Paris today to ‘draw lessons’ from the fiasco.
Addressing the media ahead of the meeting, Ms Oudea-Castera – a former tennis player appointed to her post just 10 days ago – made it clear she blames Liverpool fans, repeating accusations from Mr Lallement that up to ‘40,000 people’ had arrived at the stadium carrying fake tickets, despite the team’s allocation only being 20,000.
She accused Liverpool organisers of leaving supporters ‘in the wild’ to make their own way to the stadium via a train system in the midst of strikes with one of only two stations near the ground closed, and said their reliance on paper tickets instead of phone apps had led to a proliferation of fakes.
But her description stands at stark odds with those from players, fans, police observers, lawyers and supporters’ groups who say faulty turnstiles and heavy-handed policing created unnecessary and dangerous bottlenecks that saw fans crammed into closed areas for hours on end before officers unleashed tear gas, including on children.
Videos taken at turnstiles and gated areas close to the stadium showed what appeared to be ticketless locals trying to push their way in. Nick Parrott, a BBC journalist in the crowd, said that led officials to close gates and deny fans with tickets entry, saying police ‘either didn’t know how to deal with it or didn’t want to.’
Those who attended say problems began well before fans arrived at the stadium, as a train strike closed the B line which runs from Gare du Nord to La Plaine Stade de France – one of two stations nearby.
That meant 20,000 Liverpool fans were sent down a single road leading from Stade de France Saint-Denis – the other station, on the D line – to the ground. Police had placed a checkpoint halfway down that road which funneled people into a narrow gap for security screening.
Videos and pictures show thousands of people crammed along that route, as some complained of being forced to wait for up to three hours so they could be checked, with traffic down to a single file of fans.
Ronan Evain, director for Football Supporters Europe who was at the stadium, appeared to suggest to BFMTV today that at some point security at that checkpoint was eased to allow more people through – which meant that some locals who had mixed in with the fans were able to get close to the stadium.
‘Once that pre-screening jumped, at that place, anyone could come in. The information circulated very quickly among the supporters, but also among local young people without any club affiliation. Images circulated on social networks and I believe that it created a draft which led to the situation that we saw,’ he said.
Fans said they were then filtered down towards the Real Madrid end of the stadium before being sent back to the Liverpool gates, where repeated problems with security led to turnstiles being shut – creating further crushes.
It was here, at the southern end of the Stade de France, that most photos and videos of the trouble emerged: What appeared to be locals trying to storm through turnstiles, fans and non-fans alike climbing security fences, and police officers unleashing tear gas.
Liverpool defender Andy Robertson said friends who he had given tickets to were turned away when the turnstiles failed to recognise their QR codes. Members of the media, VIP guests and even senior members of Liverpool staff reported similar problems. Some described queuing for more than two hours before kickoff to get in.
Merseyside police, who sent observers to the game, described it as ‘the worst European match I’ve ever worked or experienced’ and said ‘the behavior of the fans at the turnstiles was exemplary in shocking circumstances.’
Ron Irvine, an 82-year-old supporter who was caught up in the chaos, said: ‘The only thing worse is Hillsborough. I know you shouldn’t use those words lightly but it could have been that bad.’
Pierre Barthélemy, a lawyer for French Liverpool fans, told Le Parisien that the issue of fake tickets is an ‘opportunistic excuse’ being seized upon by orgnaisers to cover for their own failings – saying that fans ‘kept calm despite the endless wait, the lack of information and the tear gas.’
Mr Evain added that the issue of fake tickets is a ‘marginal’ problem that affects almost every major sporting event and is typically dealt with without a fuss.
Observers at the game had not seen evidence of an unusually-large number of fakes, he said, instead blaming the three-month preparation time given to French officials after the final was moved from St Petersburg at the last minute due to European sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
‘We must now ask ourselves the question of whether France had the capacity to organize it in view of the repeated organizational difficulties around the Stade de France that we had already seen at Euro 2016, at certain Cup finals of France. These are problems that are old, that are known, that are very important’, he told FranceTVInfo.
‘There is a [also] very specific problem, which is that of the number of stewards available, their training, their professional quality, professional experience… this is a question that must also be asked: Did the organizer have enough trained professional stewards around the stadium?’
Stéphane Troussel, socialist mayor of Paris-St-Denis, the department which surrounds the national stadium, also blamed organisers – saying he has ‘never seen’ such disorder around the stadium while demanding a ‘rapid, transparent investigation’ into what went on.
Isère Michel Savin, president of a French Senate body studying major sporting events, called the fiasco ‘a humiliation for our country’ just 15 months ahead of the Rugby World Cup and 22 months from the Olympic and Paralympic Games – both of which will be held in Paris.
UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said in the aftermath of the chaos: ‘The footage and accounts from Liverpool fans and the media on their entry to the Stade de France are deeply concerning. Thousands of ticket holders travelled to Paris in good time to support their team in the biggest match of their season.
‘I urge UEFA to launch a formal investigation into what went wrong and why, in coordination with stadium staff, the French Police, Federation Francaise de Football, Merseyside Police and Liverpool Football Club.
‘It is in the interests of everyone involved to understand what happened and to learn lessons from these events.’
Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby who was at Hillsborough and in Paris on Saturday, said the scenes in Paris at the weekend brought back ‘so many terrible memories’ of April 15, 1989.
‘It was horrific, there’s no other words to describe it, it was absolutely horrific,’ he told Sky News today. ‘As someone who was at Hillsborough in 1989, it brought so many terrible memories flooding back.
‘I’m sure that many, many people who were there experienced that same flashback. It was just awful policing and stewarding, extremely hostile atmosphere. We’ve got to remember that this is the premier football occasion in Europe and to treat football fans like animals, as they did, is unforgiveable.’
Mr Byrne said the chaos was caused by ‘awful policing, awful stewarding’ and ‘mismanagement around the grounds’.
Sports minister Nigel Huddleston tweeted that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) ‘shall be working with the appropriate authorities’ to find out what happened.
It is understood the UK ambassador to France has contacted the French Ministry of Interior directly urging an investigation.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: ‘Our consular staff are supporting individuals who have been affected by the events in Paris, and are in touch with local authorities.’
It is understood that the DCMS will be contacting Uefa about the matter.
The issues started hours before the game, as tens of thousands of Liverpool fans were funnelled underneath a bridge close to the stadium, where they waited for hours in long queues.
Footage on social media appeared to show people climbing over barriers as crowds built up, and the kick-off was delayed by more than 30 minutes.
Police carrying shields and riot gear moved into the area shortly after 8pm and began using tear gas.
Tensions outside the stadium were then driven by young Parisians, causing ticket gates to be shut.
Bottles were thrown at officers who responded with tear gas.
Supporters argued with ticket officials on the other side of the fence after being refused entry.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: ‘I think it is concerning, I think we do need to ensure that they are looking into how this happened.’
He added: ‘We’ve got to learn a little bit about what happened over there, get to the bottom of it.
‘But it is concerning to see that people either didn’t get into the stadium or were treated in the way that some of them seem to have been treated, with a very aggressive approach.’
French police said 68 people were arrested and 174 people were injured after chaotic scenes before, during and after the match saw riot officers deploy the noxious gas and beat Liverpool supporters with batons.
There was no breakdown of nationalities or reasons for arrest, but a source said the injuries were mainly from tear gas inhalation. A pub of roughly 500 football fans was also set upon by riot police and evacuated.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin declared the chaos was down to ticketless fans trying to force their way into the Stade de France to watch Liverpool take on Real Madrid, and thanked French police for their efforts.
Thousands of British ‘fans’, without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, forced entry and sometimes assaulted the stewards. Thank you to all the police forces mobilised this evening in this difficult context,’ he tweeted.
But videos have since emerged of riot police spraying tear gas at scores of peaceful fans, including women and children, waiting calmly outside the gates.
The French interior ministry said 105 people had been detained, of whom 39 were placed under arrest and remanded in custody, meaning they could face charges.
Aurore Berge, a deputy for President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party, said Paris had ‘barely three months’ to get ready for the final, which it was awarded after Saint Petersburg was stripped of the event due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Police fired tear gas after several dozen people attempted to climb over barriers, according to an AFP reporter on the scene. Security staff had to round up about 20 fans who had scaled the fence and got into the ground.
UEFA blamed ‘fake tickets which did not work in the turnstiles’ for the chaos, which caused a 35-minute delay to the final, eventually won by Real Madrid.
With half an hour to go to kick-off, thousands of Liverpool supporters were still massed outside the stadium, inevitably bringing back memories for a club haunted by the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster where 97 people were killed in a crush.
Labour MP for Liverpool area Ian Byrne, who was present in Paris, told Sky News that the fans had been treated ‘like animals’.
‘It was horrific – there’s no other words to describe it. It was absolutely horrific and as someone who was at Hillsborough in 1989, it brought so many terrible memories flooding back,’ he said.
In another instance of football trouble in France, angry Saint-Etienne fans invaded the pitch after were they were relegated from Ligue 1 on Sunday in their play-off against Auxerre, with French police using tear gas.