On November 14, the Stade de France hosted a UEFA Nations League match between France and Israel. Before the game, fans began to whistle as the Israeli national anthem played. In the 20th minute of the game, a fight broke out in the stands, involving dozens of people. Fortunately, security guards wearing red vests rushed to the scene and pulled the perpetrator away. Subsequently, the military police of the Special Mobile Force also appeared to separate the audience to prevent the situation from deteriorating further. Despite these incidents, the game was not interrupted and the two sides ended up with a 0:0 draw.
The match was boring and uninteresting from a sporting perspective, and attendance for France’s match hit a new low, with only 16,611 spectators present. Before the game, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were intercepted by police as they moved towards the Stade de France a few kilometers from the Faubourg Saint-Denis stadium. They chanted “Stop the genocide against the Palestinian people!” and “Free Palestine!” but failed to reach the stadium.
French authorities have apparently learned from similar recent incidents in Amsterdam and have stepped up security measures at the event. About 4,000 people are responsible for maintaining order around the Stade de France, including more than 15 employees of private security companies. In addition, mounted police and helicopters were deployed to closely monitor the situation around the stadium. The 200 fans who had flown in specially from Tel Aviv were brought to the stadium on specially hired buses and escorted by patrol cars. After the game, these fans returned to the bus according to a pre-planned route to avoid contact with French fans.
