Around a hundred pro-Palestinian activists occupied the FFF premises in Paris to demand the cancellation of the France-Israel meeting. The demonstrators, some of whom brandished PLO flags, chanted “No, no, no to the France-Israel match at the Stade de France” before being peacefully evacuated by the police. This symbolic action, relayed on social networks and by several French media, took place while the French authorities confirmed the continuation of the match scheduled for November 14, despite security concerns. “The match will go ahead as scheduled and the public will be allowed to attend,” authorities said last month.
The situation echoes previous meetings of the Israeli national team, forced since last October to play its matches on neutral ground, mainly in Hungary. The recent meeting against Italy was also the first outing of the Israeli selection outside Hungarian territory this year.
The organizers of the demonstration underlined the political dimension of their action. “It is inconceivable to organize a sports meeting with Israel in the current context,” declared one of the movement’s spokespersons, whose comments were reported by several media present on site.
The French Football Federation has so far not wished to comment on this incident. The security arrangements planned for the meeting should be reinforced, like what was put in place during the Israel-Italy match, which took place without any major incident.
France
