A strong police presence, but few fans, are expected when France hosts Israel for the Nations Soccer League on Thursday evening, a week after the violence which broke out in Amsterdam in connection with the visit of an Israeli team.
French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police and security officers will be deployed around the Stade de France, with another 1,500 officers on public transport.
Parisian authorities are on high alert following violence in Amsterdam before and after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Dutch authorities say fans from both sides were involved in the scuffles. The attacks on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.
Mr. Nuñez stressed in an interview with France Info that the authorities had learned from what happened in Amsterdam, emphasizing that the police must be present everywhere in public space, including far from the stadium.
Three months after hosting the Olympics closing ceremony, the mood went from celebratory to fearful and the national stadium was expected to be three-quarters empty for the match. French President Emmanuel Macron and French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau will be present. Former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy will also be among them.
Only 20,000 of 80,000 tickets have been sold and around 150 Israeli fans are believed to be present, escorted by police.
The RAID, the elite tactical unit of the national police, will be present in the stadium and plainclothes police officers will mingle with the fans. Reinforced surveillance will also be put in place in Paris, particularly in places of worship and Jewish schools.
In Amsterdam, several Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans while men carried out attacks against people they thought were Jewish, according to the city’s mayor, Femke Halsema.
After the match, groups of Maccabi fans armed with sticks ran around “destroying things,” according to a 12-page report on the violence released by Amsterdam authorities.
There were also “rioters, moving in small groups, on foot, on scooters or in cars, quickly attacking Maccabi fans before disappearing,” according to the report.
The match in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, is scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m. local time.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration is organized in a square in Saint-Denis at 6 p.m. local time to protest the match.
Nine years ago, the Stade de France was one of the many places where the terrorist attacks of November 13 took place, during which 130 people died. France were playing Germany that evening when two explosions occurred outside the stadium.
