Israeli football fans clash with France supporters
Israeli fans clashed with France supporters during a football match in a nearly empty stadium in Paris, just days after Israeli hooligans sparked violence in Amsterdam by chanting anti-Arab slogans.
The scuffles took place on Thursday at the Stade de France stadium, in the northern outskirts of Paris, where the two teams faced off in a UEFA Nations League game.
The Israeli anthem was booed and whistled before kick-off while Israel’s players were jeered at times when they got the ball.
Clashes erupted during the match near where the Israeli fans were sitting, with some throwing punches.
Some spectators held up Palestinian flags that had been banned inside the stadium.
The game came just days after several nights of violence surrounding the match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax of Amsterdam in the Dutch capital.
Maccabi fans committed acts of vandalism by tearing down a Palestinian flag, attacking a taxi and chanting anti-Arab slogans, according to city authorities.
On Thursday, about 4,000 police officers were on the streets around the Stade de France along with 1,600 security personnel.
The 80,000-capacity stadium was barely a fifth full as the French had boycotted the game over Israel’s two-front aggression, which has killed 43,736 people in Gaza and 3,386 others in Lebanon since early October 2023.
However, French President Emmanuel Macron attended the game alongside predecessors Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, and Prime Minister Michel Barnier, in an show of solidarity with the Israeli regime.
“We are living in a schizophrenic moment. On the one hand, international institutions recognize the existence of a genocide in Gaza. On the other, we have a French government that reluctantly agrees to call for a ceasefire,” French lawmaker Eric Coquerel said.
“This match, which everyone knows is second rate, is attended by President Macron, the prime minister, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande. How do you expect [Israeli prime minister] Benjamin Netanyahu to hear any message other than: ‘You can continue to raze Gaza’? France is looking the other way.”
MA/Press TV
