Nearly 300 people were arrested in Paris following the excesses and tensions with the police which marked PSG’s victory in the Champions League in the capital on Saturday.
“There were festive demonstrations which were punctuated by a certain number of excesses, which corresponds to the situation that we had planned and therefore anticipated,” assured Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez during a press briefing around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday. He announced “416 arrests, including 283” for the Paris area alone.
“These excesses are absolutely unacceptable,” he insisted.
The boss of Place Beauvau also mentioned seven police officers injured, including one seriously in Agen, victim of head trauma, during excesses in around fifteen cities throughout the territory, in particular looting in Rennes, Strasbourg, Clermont-Ferrand and Grenoble.
In Reims, the city mayor Arnaud Robinet published a short message on Facebook mentioning “some arrests”.
The Paris police headquarters (PP) announced earlier that it had seized 24 torches and around a hundred mortars. Six vehicles and two businesses were damaged, a bakery and a Porte de Saint-Cloud restaurant. A little further south, an AFP journalist observed continuous fireworks and young people climbing on a fire truck.
“Four attempts to block the ring road led to extremely rapid interventions by the police who systematically unblocked the situation,” the minister further explained.
Projectiles were also thrown at the police near the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, where 4 to 5,000 people gathered during the match, before thousands of others converged there after the end of the match, according to the PP.
In the 8th arrondissement, individuals attempted to attack the police station before being dispersed.
A police source assured AFP that a person had been injured by a stab in Barbès and a man, drunk, fell into the Seine in the 5th arrondissement.
On the Parc des Princes side, some 150 people “tried to enter an entrance door” to the stadium, but a police maneuver to repel them allowed calm to be restored “a few moments later”.
A little later, according to an AFP journalist present on site, clashes broke out between police and supporters at the Porte de Saint-Cloud, near the Park. Fireworks mortars were launched at the police, who responded with tear gas.
The prefecture assured that it had prepared “carefully the security system for the Champions League final”, as well as that of other events which are organized at the same time in the capital, including a rugby match, the continuation of the Roland-Garros tennis tournament or even several concerts, including that of the singer Aya Nakamura at the Stade de France or that of the rapper Damso at the Paris La Défense Arena.
Transportation at a standstill
With 22,000 police officers and gendarmes mobilized, including 8,000 for Paris and its metropolitan area, the police had planned an extraordinary security system.
“Our responsibility is to guarantee everyone a popular, serene and fully secure celebration,” said the PP, recalling its instructions of “responsiveness, commitment and firmness”.
Many public transports have been brought to a standstill. “Due to the large number of gatherings, the network is strongly impacted with many lines stopped to guarantee the safety of travelers and drivers,” announced IDF Mobilité on its X account.
Last year, 5,400 police officers and gendarmes were deployed in Paris and its surrounding area. In total, there were 563 arrests (including 491 in Paris), which led to 307 police custody (202 in Paris).
The players will take part in a parade on Sunday afternoon at the Champ-de-Mars (15th), where nearly 100,000 people are expected, before being received by Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée.
