A rally against the holding of the France-Israel match is planned for Thursday in front of the town hall of Saint-Denis, host city of the Stade de France where this very high tension meeting will take place. The police headquarters has not, for the moment, banned this demonstration but discussions are underway.
A wind of protest will blow near the Stade de France and a few hours before kick-off in this France-Israel enclosure, Thursday (8:45 p.m.). A rally against holding the match is planned at the town hall of Saint-Denis, host city of the stadium at 6 p.m., less than three hours before the start of this very high tension match. The demonstration is called at the initiative of pro-Palestinian associations which denounce Israel's armed intervention in Palestine and Lebanon.
Discussions with the police headquarters
“We don’t play with genocide,” says a poster posted on social networks. “No to the France-Israel match.” The text is illustrated by the giant “Free Palestine” banner recently deployed in the stands of the Parc des Princes before the confrontation between PSG and Atlético de Madrid (1-2) in the Champions League. There is another photo of Celtic Glasgow supporters wearing the same inscription on their t-shirts while waving smoke bombs.
This gathering remains scheduled for the moment but discussions are underway with the various stakeholders on its organization. The police headquarters has, for the moment, not yet banned the gathering even if relocation to another location remains possible, given the proximity to the Stade de France.
Laurent Nunez, Paris police prefect, confirmed the presence of 4,000 law enforcement officers in the large security system. Figures revealed by RMC Sport with a distribution as follows: 2500 around the stadium, 1500 in Paris and transport. “We work within the framework of what the law allows us,” explained Laurent Nunez on BFMTV. “What we can do and what we will do is that there will be double control, an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium. We will have a total of 4,000 people on the system. There will also be 1600 security agents (stewards, editor's note) hired by the FFF, where on average it is 1200 or 1300 for France matches in a sold-out stadium. spectators, there will be a security system around the stadium with double control: at the entrance to the protection perimeter, then at the entrance to the stadium, each time with an identity check, search and pat-down.
The match should break the record for the lowest attendance for the French team at the Stade de France. But many political figures have announced their very symbolic presence: the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister Michel Barnier, the two former Presidents of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012) and François Hollande (2012-2017) or the President of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse.
