“The continuous and random charges of the police on supporters and the use of unjustified tear gas” were an “unconscious and dangerous” behavior, concluded this independent British report published on Monday.
Le Monde with AFP
The way in which the French police dealt with the supporters in the final, on May 28, of the Champions League around the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, enamelled with incidents before and after the match, notes of a “criminal assault”. This is the conclusion of an independent British report published Monday October 17.
This report was written by Phil Scraton, professor of law at the Queen’s University of Belfast, who had already led an investigation after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, which had cost the life of 97 Liverpool supporters after movements of crowds. He lists the violent and arbitrary behaviors of the police against supporters.
“The continuous and random charges of the police on supporters and the use of unjustified tear gas on men, women and children stuck in very crazy spaces, were an unconscious and dangerous behavior. This constitutes an assault criminal “, we can read. “Inability continues to manage the crowd has seriously endangered the health and well-being of supporters,” continues the report which underlines that only the experience that certain supporters of the Reds had had to Hillsborough and their restraint allowed the Assessment of not counting in dead.
Having come to see the final of the Champions League between Liverpool and Real Madrid, fans of the Reds had been trapped by bottlenecks set up by the police who then made massive use of tear gas . The kick-off of the match had to be postponed more than half an hour due to the incidents around the stadium. 2> “Aggressive police”
While government personalities had shown the finger at English supporters as responsible, a report by the Senate had, on the contrary, judged in July that chaos around the enclosure constituted a “failure” attributable to the “decisions” of the authorities local. “It clearly emerges from the testimonies that the supporters have been endangered by the aggressive police tactics, ineffective security measures and the lack of implementation of a global management plan for the stadium based on Risk evaluation principles “, still points to the British report.
Paris had obtained in February the organization of the final after UEFA had withdrawn it from Saint Petersburg due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The Stade de France must host in 2023 Rugby World Cup games as well as events during the 2024 Olympic Games.