IIt will take time for the inevitably multiple responsibilities for the fiasco of the Champions League final to be better established following the investigations promised by UEFA and the public authorities. We hope they are as independent as possible, as these bodies are involved.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, however, did not wait to present an expedited version at 11:45 p.m., online with the Prefecture and UEFA: “Thousands of British ‘supporters’, without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, forced entry and sometimes assaulted the stewards. »
This explanation is a reflex, when it comes to blaming the presumed irresponsibility of the supporters. It holds up badly in the face of the countless denials opposed by British journalists and observers on the spot, reporting the calm of the English fans and their early arrival – read the accounts of journalists Matt Pearson, Rob Draper or Simon Hugues.
On my way out of Paris, so here’s a chronological thread on my experience covering the #UCLfinal for @dw_sports. https://t.co/hr75TwdIVB
It’s important to tell what happened on the ground last night as I see that there are already several versions of ‘… https://t.co/2AjrAAmAWf
Relieved to be out of that. Police checks just beyond narrow underpasses made tighter by presence of vans unnecessa… https://t.co/6C696Ilump
It also has a very unfortunate resonance with the Hillsborough disaster and its 95 deaths in 1989, the responsibility for which was immediately and falsely attributed to the supporters of the Redswhile it was the negligence of the organizers and the police.
The Liverpuldians’ intimate knowledge of this drama probably played a part in preventing crowd movements, the outcome of which could have been fatal. Several witnesses reported the atmosphere of fear, without exasperation prevailing.
Known or foreseeable factors
The facts remain overwhelming: in front of hundreds of millions of television viewers, the kick-off was delayed by 36 minutes… without even preventing thousands of spectators from reaching the stands until well after it.
Liverpool Police envoys defended driving “exemplary” of their flocks and describes “the worst organization” match they attended. City MP Ian Byrne referred to “one of the worst experiences of his life” and “a terrible organization putting lives in danger”.
Most of the concrete reasons for the disorder are identified, although it is difficult to establish their relative importance: attempted intrusions without a ticket, which occurred after the confusion had been established; presentations of counterfeit banknotes; congestion at the south-west access points to the enclosure, due to the orientation of supporters towards this single passage; a lack of well-trained stewards.
So many known or foreseeable factors, which the authorities and the organizers had the task of anticipating and managing. In particular, access to the forecourt from the RER D, via a bottleneck, has always been problematic. Exactly where the incidents took place.
Their poor apprehension leaves little doubt: late lifting of the pre-filtering of spectators at the origin of the congestion; inability to contain unlawful intrusions; gaz tear gas used indiscriminately; unexplained closure of the counters concernedes, etc.
MUITA CONFUSÃO! Olha só o que rolou na porta do Stade de France, que acabou atrasando o início da partida entre Liv… https://t.co/y5fiLT2lkB
Lack of dialogue and repression
So much for the circumstances of a chaos which is in no way a surprise as it is the logical outcome of the policies of (non) management of supporters in France. For years, the renunciation of the public authorities in their mission and the choice of all repressive measures have maintained their incompetence in the administration of these crowds.
To deal with the problems to which they contribute by the absence of dialogue with the organizations of supporters, they have only to propose a brutal and outdated doctrine of the maintenance of order… of which the supporters have been the guinea pigs.
In a nation that prided itself on hosting this final after sidelining St. Petersburg, which claims to host major sporting and is two years away from the Paris Olympicsthis failure is all the more alarming as the appointment of scapegoats still takes precedence over any recognition of responsibility.
Ten years ago, the Euro football had yet highlighted serious shortcomings. “If a few heads fell, there was no feedback, no independent investigation. Six years and much complacency later, the same archaic devices lead to the same problems”deplores Ronan Evain, Executive Director of FSE.
The hope is that the international exposure of this masterful failure will finally contribute to a questioning. The distressing attempts of the police to prevent journalists from filming the most compromising scenes for them will not be enough this time.
