A karaoke to warm hearts in a French stadium which will ring hollow this Thursday, November 14, on the occasion of France-Israel. It’s a little before 7:30 p.m. when the sound system launches the iconic “Emmenez-moi” by Charles Aznavour. The speaker then invites the first spectators to warm up their voices. Ordinarily, the moment would have given rise to a beautiful choir, but Tahar Rahim is not there to sing and the stands, each one emptier than the other, look more like a dying room than a hall. holidays.
It feels like we're back in the Covid period when the stadiums were reduced to closed doors to prevent a virus from spreading… In total, a little more than 18,000 people came to fill the stands. A sad record for the Saint-Denis venue which since its inauguration in 1998 had not seen “worse” than 36,842 people (in the Confederations Cup against New Zealand in 2003).
Returning to the Stade de France after a long absence linked to the Olympic Games, the Blues hoped for a bigger crowd, but questions linked to security, in parallel with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, slowed down the majority. Which did not prevent some Israel supporters from proudly waving the Israeli flag amidst the blue, white and red. Enough to give a little life to sad sections. “The atmosphere is borderline paranoid,” slips a member of private security who has been reinforced.
The presidential platform has rarely lived up to its name so well, Emmanuel Macron being surrounded by his predecessors François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. Michel Barnier was also present, as was Manuel Valls.
When the Israeli players entered for the warm-up, there were light whistles but no Palestinian flag even though the reception agents were instructed to prevent their entry. These same whistles were repeated during the announcement of the visiting team and the national anthems without it turning into a reaction.
Below, measures were also taken to prevent one or more individuals from invading the land with gates, a barrier all along and the first seven rows of the lower part condemned. A special atmosphere in a freezing November climate which ultimately fits the situation quite well. It is only the players who will be able to rekindle the embers already extinguished before the show even starts…
