We had assumed the worst but in the end, Paris experienced an uneventful and calm evening of Basketball this Thursday. His club, Paris Basbetball, resumed its march forward in the Euroleague by defeating Maccabi Tel-Aviv (96-83). More importantly, nothing disrupted the smooth running of a game placed under very high security for several days. In the context of the conflict in the Middle East and despite the warming between the Hebrew state and Hamas who agreed on a truce, welcoming the Israeli “nation club” made the duel a match like no other. Especially since a few weeks ago, the match between Nanterre and Holon, another Israeli club, was interrupted after the irruption of pro-Palestinian activists and the start of clashes in the stands.
Never in France has a basketball match been as protected as this evening’s. Classified at 4 on a risk scale of 5 by the national division for the fight against hooliganism (DNLH), it mobilized up to a thousand heavily armed police officers and deployed to the nearest metro entrances. The fear of the Paris police headquarters was an unauthorized demonstration, this match being “likely to constitute a privileged and symbolic target for acts of a terrorist nature”, in a “current context of very high threat”, she explained in an order the day before.
To avoid all risks, throughout the evening, outside the Adidas Arena in the popular Porte de la Chapelle district, the flashing lights of dozens of police vehicles lit up the night. The thousand fans from Tel Aviv, 400 of whom traveled alongside the Diaspora Défense Forces association, were escorted to their seats, avoiding any contact with the rest of the public, which was sparse (4,751 spectators) for the occasion. . Recognizable by their yellow t-shirts, they were able to sing and encourage theirs in complete peace.
Because in the room under the eyes of Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez, no supporter of the Palestinian cause came to appear on stage with an unauthorized fabric or a banner. Apart from the flags bearing the Star of David, France or Paris Basketball, no other was able to pass through the doors. Although several spectators complained of foul odors possibly caused by stink balls, no Palestinian flag or political message was displayed, which represented the greatest risk of poisoning.
“It was a strange situation, but we are professionals, we play in all kinds of environments, from empty gymnasiums to a crazy atmosphere,” noted Parisian leader TJ Shorts after the match.
Outside, despite a pro-Palestinian demonstration a stone’s throw away, at Stalingrad Square, welcoming the agreements signed earlier, the evening was also quiet. The only cold sweat came an hour before kickoff. A suspicious object was spotted on the first floor of the Arena. After combing the room during the day, the mine clearance service returned urgently. Fortunately, for a false alarm.
