Guest on Friday November 1st on BFMTV, Bruno Retailleau confirmed the continuation of the Nations League match between the French team and Israel at the Stade de France on November 14th. In order to avoid incidents, the Minister of the Interior announced an adaptation of the security system and did not completely exclude the idea of a spectator gauge.
A few months after the Paris Olympics, France will have to take on a new security challenge. If the Olympic meeting went off without a hitch, the public authorities are now preparing the thorny League of Nations match between France and Israel, on November 14, at the Stade de France. A duel organized the day after the ninth anniversary of the Bataclan attacks and against a backdrop of conflict in the Middle East. A tense context which should not, however, prevent the smooth running of the meeting despite the petition initiated by MP Louis Boyard to demand its cancellation.
“Insoumise France is accustomed to this kind of tension, it wants so much to bring the conflicts of the Middle East into our neighborhoods and into France. For the moment, it has not succeeded. Besides the demonstrations, I “observes and our services have indicated to us, which are often at the initiative of the far left have not been followed by these neighborhoods”, estimated Friday Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, during of his time on the set of BFMTV. “This match will take place.”
“Adapt the security system because there will be risks”
Unlike Belgium, which preferred to relocate its duel against Israel to Debrecen (Hungary), France does not intend to give in in the face of fears of excesses.
“I made a point with the police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, who knows perfectly well what he is talking about. I asked him the question of whether it could take place, which would be best, in the Stade de France where it is planned,” continued the government member. “Well we will, of course, adapt the security system because there will be risks. It will take place.”
Towards the establishment of a gauge?
And, unlike his recent intervention on the show Rothen ignites on RMC, Bruno Retailleau was not completely closed to the idea of a gauge. Even if in fact, the current low public enthusiasm for the meeting could prevent it.
“This is a point that we are currently studying. But what I wanted is that we not move it to the Parc des Princes for example. For a question of gauge but also for a question of principle. We are in France and we must be able to enforce public order.”
New meetings are planned in the next two to refine the security system around this France-Israel.
Retailleau hopes to “leave conflicts aside”
Uncompromising on the State's desire to avoid incidents for this Nations League match for the Blues, Bruno Retailleau also called for a great celebration around football.
“I hope it will be a good time. A good time for sport and a good time for this relationship which is special and which unites Israel and France beyond what we can experience as a violent conflict” , continued the Minister of the Interior on BFMTV. “And it is important that the values of sport, which are universal values, which bring together human beings regardless of their religion or the color of their skin or whatever their nationality.”
Before concluding: “That's the message of sport. Could we, perhaps, on November 14, leave conflicts aside and listen to this beautiful message that athletes offer us?”
