Over 200 injured after Champions League riots in France

A total of 219 people have been injured in clashes between football fans and police across France after Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) won the Champions League final against Arsenal.

Eight were in a serious condition, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. Thousands of officers were deployed to curb unrest that disrupted bus, train and rail services in the capital, Paris. Fifty-seven of them were injured.

Nuñez said 780 people had been arrested over the violence - with more than 450 in custody. A person was found dead after an accident on Paris’s ring road, which rioters tried to block overnight.

Some 6,000 police have been mobilised for Sunday’s victory parade at the site of the Eiffel Tower.

The interior minister said the security forces would be “firm” in their response.

“We are a great country for maintaining public order. We allow freedom of assembly, but not excesses,” he said.

There was similar violence when PSG won the same trophy last year, with celebrations turning deadly.

Thousands of officers had been deployed this time to curb unrest that disrupted bus, train and rail services in Paris.

The vast Champs-Élysées was swarmed by fans shortly after the local team won in a penalty shootout.

Footage shows flares being set off, electric bikes burning on roads and revellers smashing the glass of at least one shopfront. Police fired tear gas to disperse crowds in the city centre.

Paris police made 480 arrests, with 277 taken into custody, including 82 minors.

The figures were provisional, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. It added that offences ranged from attacks on officers to attacks on property, theft, as well as illegal possession of weapons.

The circumstances surrounding the death of the 24-year-old near Porte Maillot in the Paris ring road remain unclear. Some witnesses said he was riding a motorcycle when he crashed into concrete blocks.

A teenager was also in critical condition following a brawl in another area of Paris. It is not clear if they were involved in the football-related rioting.

“The vast majority go out to celebrate and it goes very well,” the French interior minister said on Sunday.

“But other individuals, who are not PSG supporters, who don’t even watch the match, come to cause trouble and disturbances. We are here to prevent them from doing so. Our response is very firm.”

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote on X: “Only in France does a football club’s victory spark riots.”

“Only in France does everyone feel compelled to lock themselves in their homes on the evening of a victory to avoid being confronted with violence,” she said.

Players are due to take part in the victory parade later on Sunday. It includes touring the Champ-de-Mars next to the Eiffel Tower and a reception held by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Source: BBC
-- Agencies