He France-Israel could be played, in the Stade de France, with some physical confrontations, short but very hard, in some stands, stifled by the anti-riots very present in the surroundings and throughout Paris, whose large avenues and public places were taken over by police, riot police and military units, disturbingly confirming that politics and anti-Semitism have become a cancer for French football.
Hours before the match began, in an atmosphere of “police and military tranquility”, on the Champs-Élysées, the great national and Parisian avenue, military units patrolledarmed, guarding, in particular, metro stations, for “deterrent” purposes.
A very similar military device had been set up around the Notre Dame Cathedral, whose solemn reopening is scheduled for early December, without the presence of the Pope, as President Emmanuel Macron expected.
In the place of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan “cogollito” of the capital, the driver of a wealthy family from Qatar told me: “The Paris-Saint-Germain is owned by an investment fund of “Qatar, where all this Israel is seen with zero sympathy.”
A few days ago, an hour before the start of the match between PSG and Atlético de Madrid, the stands of the Parc des Princes were “decorated” with a gigantic banner that verbatim repeated Hamas propaganda: “Free Palestine.” Frank Tapiro, a famous publicist, commented yesterday afternoon: “PSG, owned by Qatar, could not ignore this publicity display in favor of Hamas, an Islamic terrorist group, whose leaders have had historical relations with Qatar.” Along the same lines, a Gendarmerie officer, who prefers not to be named, told me an hour before the start of the France-Italy match, on the terrace of the Café de Flore, in the heart of Saint-Germain-des -Pres: «Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, had that thorn in him. I feared that something similar could happen before or during the France-Irsael match. “And he took very effective police measures.”
Police measures that had a disturbing, very relative effectiveness. Within half an hour of the start of the match, social networks began to spread videos of one or several minutes, with images of tension and confrontations in some stands. The official match commentators were very careful not to publicize these incidents, which were difficult to gauge, in an almost empty stadium. In a peaceful, but very “energetic” tone, groups of Jews arriving with the Israel team shouted regularly. «Release the hostages! Release the hostages!
During the first half of the game there were events in several stands. physical confrontations “minors” between French and Jewish fans. Several videos are circulating showing men with their faces covered, presumably Jewish, running after other beaten men. Riot police quickly quelled the violence. But some tensions broke out again that official TV did not want to film. Palestinian Hamas flags were banned, but social media showed several supporters displaying them before they were detained.
AT LEAST 2 French supporters have been attacked by a mob of Israeli fans inside the Stade de France during the France vs Israel game.@UEFA this game should have never been allowed to go ahead. You have put the life of fans at risk. pic.twitter.com/OGzSZtuwn3
— Leyla Hamed (@leylahamed) November 14, 2024
An hour before the start of the match, several thousand supporters of La Francia Insumisa (extreme left) staged several very verbally violent “meetings” against Israel, denouncing the exceptional police measures.
Thousands of fans were “dissuaded” to attend the match at the Stade de France, concerned about the direct or indirect “publicity” of the government and numerous leftist or anti-Semitic groups, who had been “heating up” the risk of “serious incidents” for several days.
The comings and goings of police and gendarmerie vehicles, at high speed, making a lot of noise, with their alarms, inspired obvious anxiety along the large Parisian avenues. The deployment of thousands of police and gendarmes in the vicinity of the Stadium, multiplying the very peremptory controls, also had an obvious deterrent effect. The helicopters of anti-terrorist units, flying around the periphery near the soccer field, reminded of the deterrent presence of anti-terrorist units.
The match ended without the feared flares of uncontrolled violence. Inside and outside the Stade de France there were almost as many police, gendarmes and riot police as there were fans willing to follow a potentially incendiary match.
In the presidential gallery, Emmanuel MacronPresident of the Republic, accompanied by two of his predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, and the head of government, Michel Barnier, among other personalities from the top leadership of the State, had decided to record the “exemplary normality” of the party. None of them dared to stand up, at any time, “eclipsed” and relatively “hidden” and silent
At the edge of midnight, tragedy had been avoided. With an exceptional political and police cost. “Peace” was only possible with unprecedented police measures. The limited bursts of tension were quickly quelled. The evidence remains: anti-Semitism is wreaking havoc on French football, with fans very divided: “traditional” fans aspire to “peace” and support for France and Israel; The fans of the suburbs, the “banlieue” and the new multicultural France, have a certain sympathy for the political agitation supported by the left that defends the cause of Hamas and other small Islamist groups.
