UThirty people were placed in police custody on the sidelines of the France-Israel meeting Thursday evening at the Stade de France, including two for violence that occurred during this match under high surveillance, we learned Friday from the public prosecutor's office. Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis).
The match, which took place under very high security (4,000 police and gendarmes deployed) and in a stadium with more than sparse aisles, went “very well from a security point of view”, declared Friday the prefect of Paris police Laurent Nuñez on France 2, reporting two arrests after an incident in the stands between supporters of the two teams.
“We have a total of 29 police custody cases, including the two for acts of violence between supporters,” the Bobigny prosecutor's office told AFP.
If most of the people placed in police custody were for common law reasons (carrying a weapon, possession of drugs, receiving stolen goods), five of these measures were taken “for acts of provocation to hatred or violence in a sports venue,” added the prosecution.
A police source told AFP that 40 people had been arrested in total, including 38 on the sidelines of the match.
Regarding the incident in the stands, “there was a fight that broke out, which was immediately contained by the stewards,” explained Mr. Nuñez. One person was immediately arrested and then a second after the match, thanks to surveillance videos, continued the police prefect without specifying whether they were supporters of the French or Israeli team.
According to the police source, the incidents in the stands followed “attitudes felt to be provocations”. At the end of the match, three Palestinian flags were displayed in the stands, this source said.
No incident was reported around the stadium, neither during the arrival of supporters, nor after the match, this source said.
A little over 16,600 spectators attended the match, the lowest attendance in history for a French team match at the Stade de France, an 80,000-seat venue.
