Police detained more than 200 people in Paris on Saturday after violent clashes broke out as thousands of people took to the streets during Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final victory.
Some 22,000 police were deployed across France for the match, including 8,000 in Paris, after unrest marred PSG’s victory in the competition last year. Paris tram lines were stopped, several metro stations were closed and bus traffic was stopped in some places in a bid to minimize disruption.
According to the French Interior Ministry, 326 people were arrested across the country, including 235 in Paris. It was not immediately clear how many of these people were taken into custody to face further investigation.
Six vehicles and two businesses were damaged. A police officer was also injured, Paris police headquarters said.
A group of supporters also broke into the Paris ring road, the outskirts, paralyzing traffic for a time and launching flares, a AFP said the photographer.
As fans celebrated the spectacular penalty shootout victory in the Hungarian capital Budapest, some 20,000 people gathered on Paris’ iconic Champs-Elysees avenue, police said.
Stores boarded up their windows before the game to prevent a repeat of last year’s riots, when youths looted stores on the Champs-Elysees and other streets. Hundreds of people were arrested.
Two dozen flares and about 100 fireworks were seized on Saturday, while a bus stop was destroyed near the Champs-Elysees.
The match also took place on a hectic night 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 tournament in full swing.
Police said a bakery and a restaurant were damaged near PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium, where tens of thousands of people gathered inside to watch the match, but between 4,000 and 5,000 people loitered outside with projectiles, which were thrown at officers.
About 150 people “tried to enter through one of the doors” of the stadium, but police turned them away, a police spokesman said.
Some also tried to set up a barricade with rental bicycles, which was cleared by police.
An AFP journalist at the scene said clashes broke out between police and fans near the stadium, and officers responded with tear gas when fireworks were thrown at them.
‘Only in France’
The scenes angered France’s far right, with three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen writing in X that “only in France does a football club’s victory provoke riots.”
“Only in France does everyone feel obliged to lock themselves in their homes on the night of a victory to avoid being faced with violence,” he added.
Interior Minister Laurent Núñez said there was a “very solid and solid system” to stop the violence.
“Our responsibility is to guarantee everyone a peaceful and completely safe festive celebration,” said a police spokesperson.
The players will take part in a parade on Sunday afternoon on the Champs de Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower, where around 100,000 people are expected, before being welcomed by President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.
