While the war that has been raging since October 7, 2023 in the Gaza Strip has spread to Lebanon, where Israel has been carrying out massive airstrikes against the Islamist Hezbollah movement since September 23, Louis Boyard invoked “article 4 of the FIFA statutes which explains that universal human rights must be respected.
“Double standards”
The rebellious MP argued that the International Federation had “sometimes applied sanctions to other countries”, such as Russia, Belarus or South Africa. “But on the other hand, when it comes to the policy of the Israeli government, we do absolutely nothing,” he denounced, asking “that we put an end to double standards”, in the name notably the “42,000 deaths” (43,204 to date, Editor’s note) recorded by the Hamas government in Gaza.
But, for the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, interviewed on BFMTV-RMC, the meeting will be held in Saint-Denis, “and we will of course adapt the security system”. Police prefect Laurent Nuñez had promised two weeks ago “an extremely reinforced security system which will be of a very high level”, both “outside and inside the stadium”.
Gauge revised downwards?
In this context, could the gauge of 80,000 spectators be revised downwards? “This is a point that we are currently studying,” admitted Bruno Retailleau. “But what I wanted is for us not to move, for example to the Parc des Princes” – in the 16th arrondissement of Paris – which has 48,000 places, he continued. Because, castigating LFI, which according to him seeks to “import the conflicts of the Middle East into our neighborhoods and into France”, Bruno Retailleau assured that the smooth running of this meeting was “a question of principle”.
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