The meeting between France and Israel saw several small events in the stands, but the entire meeting went well.
At the final whistle, 0-0: despite a brief incident in the stands, the football match between France and Israel took place peacefully on Thursday evening at the Stade de France, where an exceptional security system had been put in place after last week’s violence on the sidelines of a Maccabi Tel-Aviv match in Amsterdam.
The supporters left the Saint-Denis stadium without incident a little before 11:00 p.m.
A brief crowd movement occurred in an upper stand during the first half, leading to the intervention of stewards to prevent Israeli supporters from mixing with French fans.
In images, spectators can be seen exchanging blows in a stand, one of whom carries an Israeli flag on his shoulders.
“There was a crowd movement, with many people running in the opposite direction to the Israeli side, but we didn’t really understand what happened.“, says Kévin Da Silva, 28, who left the stadium before the end of the match, after experiencing the “worst atmosphere” that he has ever known for a French team match.
The police headquarters did not wish to communicate any information.
In the south stand, some supporters took out Palestinian flags, applauded by others, before security intervened to remove them. Only French and Israeli flags were allowed; Palestinian banners, as well as messages of a political nature, were prohibited.
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 his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the “mobilization of France“for one”good progress of the match“.
Police deployed in numbers
Securing the match had become a major problem as Europe faces a rise in racist and anti-Semitic acts since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza in October 2023.
A total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes had been deployed around and, rarely, in the Saint-Denis stadium, as well as on public transport and throughout Paris.
Elisa, a 23-year-old from Lille who came with her family, understood the omnipresence of the police when she arrived at the stadium, even deeming it desirable.because there is a risk that violent people will disrupt the match“.
The Saint-Denis enclosure (80,000 seats) sounded a little hollow since only 16,611 spectators were present, the lowest attendance in history 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 were reinforced 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.
France Israel League of Nations football
