4 hours ago
The French Minister of Sports said that fans without tickets caused the crowding problems that marred the Champions League final match that was held in Paris on Saturday night, despite the strong criticism leveled at the people in charge of maintaining order at this important sporting event.
Amelie Odea-Castera blamed the chaos at the Stade de France on “crowds” of fans who were in possession of “fake tickets”.
The French minister also said that young men from the region tried to enter the stadium by force, and this worsened the situation.
But British Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries described the scenes as “extremely disturbing” and called for an investigation.
French police are facing criticism for spraying pepper spray and firing tear gas canisters at some Liverpool fans as they waited to enter the stadium on Saturday night.
In addition, the police are accused of causing a large crowd by restricting traffic on a road that leads to the stadium from under a tunnel.
And those problems caused, outside the Stade de France, in 35 minutes of delaying the start of the final match, which Liverpool lost 0-1 to Real Madrid of Spain.
Amelie Odea-Castera’s comments come ahead of a meeting scheduled for Monday with the French Ministry of Sports, UEFA, the French Football Federation, stadium officials and the police in order to “draw lessons” from the event.
“What happened, in the beginning, was this gathering of fans of the English team who did not have tickets, or who had fake tickets,” the French minister told local media.
But she added, however, that there were many who came from local areas and tried to storm the gates of the Stade de France, where the match was taking place.
“A number of young people from nearby areas were present and tried to enter by mingling with the crowds of fans,” Odea-Castera said.
The French official expressed her regret for the tear gas that families and children were subjected to.
Regarding Real Madrid fans, the French minister said that “there were no problems” with the Spanish team, which organized the travel of its fans better than its English counterpart, according to Odea-Castera.
UEFA has initially blamed the “delayed arrival” of the fans for what happened.
But Merseyside Police, which is responsible for keeping order in Liverpool, which was present in Paris, said the majority of Liverpool fans arrived early at the turnstiles and behaved “perfectly”.
A video clip broadcast on television on Saturday showed young men, who were not wearing Liverpool shirts, as they jumped over the stadium gates before escaping from the security forces.
Liverpool fans spoke of long lines that formed hours before kick-off.
Tom Whitehurst said he had to turn away his disabled son when the pepper spray operations began.
Tom added: “The way the police and UEFA dealt with the fans was disgraceful; pepper spray was indiscriminately sprayed on the fans, many of whom arrived regarding two and a half hours before the match started with tickets and queued while the riot police surrounded them in shields.”
Nick Parrott, a BBC journalist who was in Paris, said: “This has been the worst experience I’ve ever had in a football match.”
Barot tweeted that locals were “trying to storm the stadium while security forces were closing the gates to legal fans with tickets.”
Barot explained that he remained in front of one of the gates for regarding an hour and a half without allowing anyone to enter, before “the security staff on the other side of the gate advanced and fired pepper spray.”
Liverpool defender Andy Robertson said that the process of organizing the final match was marred by chaos, noting that he had given a real ticket to a friend of his, but he might not enter it because they told him it was fake.
“It was a horrific experience for our fans and for the families who went through that situation as well. It was not a good experience at all, and it was not a final you would be happy to attend. The Champions League final is supposed to be a celebration, but it wasn’t,” Robertson added.
Joan Anderson, mayor of Liverpool, who attended the final, described the way the French police handled it as “extremely disgraceful”.
Anderson told the BBC: “When the kick-off was late and I might see a lot of empty seats for the Liverpool fans – which indicates that a lot of those with tickets mightn’t get in, I went to see for myself what was really going on.”
She added: “I watched the crowded Liverpool fans, while they were shouting to the officials, or the supervisors, then the riot police appeared and started spraying these fans with pepper spray.”
Chaotic scenes have become a source of political embarrassment in France, which is set to host the 2023 Rugby World Championships and the 2024 Summer Olympics.
