The Euroleague meeting between Paris Basketball and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Thursday January 16 at the Adidas Arena, is placed under close surveillance in view of the situation in the Middle East. It will mobilize nearly 600 law enforcement officers.
It’s rare, very rare, for a basketball match in France. As part of the Euroleague, Paris Basketball this Thursday, January 16 (8:30 p.m.) will host Maccabi Tel-Aviv at the Adidas Arena, located at Porte de La Chapelle, in the north of the capital. This meeting is the subject of increased vigilance on the part of the authorities, given the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.
- A meeting classified as high risk by the authorities
The Paris Police Prefecture indicated in a decree that the match was “likely to constitute a privileged and symbolic target for acts of a terrorist nature”, in a “current context of very high threat”, while the National Fighting Division against hooliganism (DNLH) classified the meeting as high risk. More precisely at level 4 on a scale of 1 to 5.
A first at this level for a basketball match on French territory. This rating by this intelligence service specializing in the world of sport shows the security importance of this meeting.
- A security system inspired by France-Israel
Nearly 600 law enforcement officers are mobilized for this match, according to the authorities. Several mobile force units (UFM) will be deployed. A system put together by the Police Prefecture, with several hundred police officers and gendarmes, which should make it possible to avoid excesses around and inside the enclosure. A private security system will also be put in place by the Parisian club. It will be greatly strengthened compared to the other meetings of the season.
The device, in a smaller format, is inspired by that deployed for the Blues’ meeting at the Stade de France against Israel, at the end of 2024, which mobilized 4,000 police officers and gendarmes. The geographical position of the room “also strengthens the security system”, adds a source close to the file to RMC.
- How many supporters expected?
For Paris-Maccabi, 2,000 Israeli supporters are expected in the stands. These supporters will go there by bus “surrounded by law enforcement and the Jewish community protection service,” said Patrick Bensimon, co-founder of the Diaspora Defense Force (DDF) association, which will organize the trip of 400 of them.
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s ultra supporters are renowned for their excesses of violence, notably involved in brawls in the streets of Amsterdam last November.
At the same time, a group of Paris Basketball supporters, the Kop Parisii, decided to boycott the meeting: “We decided with the office not to make this match a usual match and above all not to act as if nothing had happened. was. We will not animate the KOP stand for this match. There will be no drums, no singing, no tarpaulins. By decision of the office, the association will not be officially represented there. A boycott movement taken up by LFI deputy Thomas Portes calling, like the “Urgence Palestine” and “BDS France” collectives, to prevent the meeting from taking place.
- Rather reassuring precedents
This is not the first time that France has hosted an Israeli team as part of a sporting competition in this geopolitical context. On December 18, the Champions League basketball match, the third continental level, in Nanterre against Hapoël Holon was briefly interrupted when a spectator entered the floor, brandishing a Palestinian flag. This intrusion notably led to scuffles among the public and seven people, including the spectator concerned, were arrested.
A little earlier, the French football team hosted Israel on November 14 as part of a Nations League match in a sparse but ultra-secure Stade de France. Israeli supporters were arrested for attacking French supporters, in a movement quickly contained by the police. At the beginning of November, the France-Israel women’s basketball match took place without incident.
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