The French Ministry of Interior says over 416 people were detained nationwide after violent clashes erupted when thousands poured onto the streets across the country during Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final victory.
The ministry said 283 people were apprehended in Paris
alone. It was not immediately clear how many of these individuals were remanded
in custody to face further investigation.
Some 22,000 police were deployed across France for the game,
including 8,000 in Paris, after unrest marred PSG’s win in the competition last
year. Paris tram lines were halted, several metro stations shut, and bus
traffic halted in places in a bid to minimise disturbances.
Interior minister Laurent Nunez said seven officers had been
wounded and called the unrest “absolutely unacceptable.”
Six vehicles and two businesses were damaged.
A group of supporters also stormed the Paris ring road, the
peripherique, bringing traffic to a halt for a time and letting off flares, an
AFP photographer said.
As fans celebrated the dramatic penalty shootout victory in
the Hungarian capital, Budapest, some 20,000 people converged on Paris’s iconic
Champs-Élysées Avenue, police said.
Shops boarded up their windows ahead of the match to avoid a
repeat of disturbances last year when youths ransacked shops on the
Champs-Élysées and other streets. Hundreds of people were arrested.
Two dozen flares and about 100 fireworks were seized
Saturday, while a bus shelter was destroyed near the Champs-Élysées.
The match also came on a hectic evening in Paris, with
singer Aya Nakamura performing at the Stade de France national stadium, rapper
Damso at the La Défense Arena and the French Open tennis in full swing.
Police said a bakery and a restaurant were damaged near
PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium, where tens of thousands gathered inside to
watch the match, but 4,000 to 5,000 people loitered outside with projectiles,
which were thrown at officers.
About 150 people “attempted to enter through one of the
gates” at the stadium, but police pushed them back, a police spokesperson said.
Some also attempted to erect a barricade using rental bikes,
which police cleared.
An AFP reporter at the scene said clashes broke out between
police and supporters near the stadium, and officers responded with tear gas
when fireworks were thrown at them.
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