around twenty people in police custody for minor offenses

Around forty people were arrested on Thursday, November 14, on the sidelines of the France-Israel match (0-0) at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), giving rise to around twenty police custody but For “nothing serious”Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned from police sources on Friday. A police source told AFP that a total of 40 other people had been arrested on the sidelines of the match.

This risky match, held under very close surveillance (4,000 police and gendarmes deployed) after last week's violence on the sidelines of a Maccabi Tel-Aviv match in Amsterdam, took place “very well run from a safety point of view”confirmed the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nunez, on France 2 on Friday.

A brief crowd movement occurred in an upper stand during the first period, leading to the intervention of stewards to prevent Israeli supporters from mixing with French supporters. In images filmed in the stands, we can see spectators exchanging blows, one of whom carries an Israeli flag on his shoulders.

“There was a fight that broke out, which was immediately contained by the stewards”explained Laurent Nunez. One person was immediately arrested then a second after the match, thanks to surveillance videos, continued the prefect without specifying whether the two people in custody were supporters of the French or Israeli team.

Only French and Israeli flags were allowed; Palestinian banners, as well as messages of a political nature, were prohibited.

Leaving the stadium, Jad Charaf, 19, a law student at Nanterre, shows his white t-shirt on which it is written « Free Palestine », « Free Lebanon » et « Free World ». “They banned the Palestinian flag, but not t-shirts, he said. They say politics has no place in sport, but sport has always been political. I tried to show my dissatisfaction and give our opinion in this way. I am against any civilian loss. That our politicians do nothing about what is happening in Gaza and Lebanon breaks my heart. »

Exceptional security system

The sporting stakes of this meeting in the Paris suburbs counting for the League of Nations were largely eclipsed by the geopolitical context. Emmanuel Macron, who attended the meeting, assured Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the “mobilization of France” for one “Good progress of the match”.

Israel coach Ran Ben Shimon thanked French authorities for ensuring the safety of his team. “We want to thank the security people for protecting us. Thanks to French security and the authorities who organized this match in an extraordinary and fantastic way”he declared at a press conference after the meeting.

Securing the match had become a major problem as Europe faces a rise in racist and anti-Semitic acts since the attacks of October 7, 2023 in Israel and the start of the war in Gaza.

A total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes had been deployed both around and, rarely, in the Saint-Denis stadium, as well as on public transport and in Paris. In addition to the police, around 1,600 security agents were mobilized at the Stade de France and the RAID ensured the security of the Israel team.

Record for lowest attendance

The Saint-Denis enclosure (80,000 seats) sounded a little hollow since only 16,611 spectators were present, the lowest attendance for a French team match at the Stade de France. The first rows of seats were covered with a tarpaulin to prevent any intrusion and grilles had been erected above the advertising panels all around the pitch.

Fears of excesses had increased after the serious incidents which followed the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, on the night of November 7 to 8 in Amsterdam. Israeli supporters were then chased and beaten in the streets of the Dutch capital, attacks which left 20 to 30 injured and sparked outrage in many Western capitals. Before the match, Maccabi fans chanted anti-Arab chants and burned a Palestinian flag in Dam Square in the center of the Dutch capital.

The French authorities had categorically ruled out abandoning the match or relocating it, as Belgium did in September.

Israel, for its part, called on supporters on Sunday to avoid going to the Stade de France. And the head of Israeli diplomacy, Gideon Saar, asked the French authorities on Thursday evening to ensure “the safety of Israeli fans”. Supervised by an association for the defense of the Jewish community, more than 600 people went to the stadium in around ten chartered buses and placed under high police security.

The authorities had planned to secure places of worship and Jewish communities in Paris and nearby suburbs, according to a note from the police headquarters (PP) consulted by AFP. The PP had also demanded increased vigilance from the police in places where “supporters [de la sélection israélienne] would be likely to move”.

In Saint-Denis, Place du Front-Populaire, several hundred people gathered Thursday evening to denounce the holding of the match.