Police arrested 283 people in Paris this Saturday (30) after violent clashes that occurred when thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate PSG’s victory in the Champions League final.
Twenty-two thousand police officers were deployed across France for the game, including 8,000 in Paris, after riots marred PSG’s victory in the competition last year. Paris tram lines were disrupted, several metro stations were closed and bus traffic was suspended in some locations in an attempt to minimize disruption.
According to the French Ministry of the Interior, 416 people were detained across the country, including the 283 arrested in Paris.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said seven police officers were injured and called the disturbances “absolutely unacceptable.”
Six vehicles and two commercial establishments were damaged.
A group of fans also invaded the Paris ring road, halting traffic for some time and setting off flares, an AFP photographer said.
As fans celebrated the dramatic penalty shootout victory in the Hungarian capital Budapest, around 20,000 people gathered on Paris’ iconic Champs-Elysées avenue, police said.
Shops boarded up their windows before departure to avoid a repeat of last year’s riots, when youths looted businesses on the Champs-Elysées and other streets. Hundreds of people were arrested.
Two dozen flares and around 100 fireworks were seized on Saturday, while a bus stop was destroyed near the Champs-Elysées.
The match also took place on a busy night in Paris, with singer Aya Nakamura performing at the Stade de France, the national stadium, rapper Damso at La Défense Arena and French Open tennis in full swing.
Police said a bakery and restaurant were damaged near PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium, where thousands gathered to watch the match, but 4,000 to 5,000 people remained outside.
Around 150 people “tried to enter through one of the gates” of the stadium, but police held them back, a spokesman said.
Some also tried to erect a barricade with rental bicycles, which was removed by police.
An AFP reporter 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.
The scenes angered the French far right, with three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen writing in X that “only in France does the victory of a football club provoke riots.”
“Only in France does everyone feel obliged to lock themselves in their homes on the night of a victory to avoid being confronted with violence,” he said.
Nunez said there was a “very robust, very solid system in place” to contain the violence.
“Our responsibility is to ensure everyone has a peaceful and completely safe festive celebration,” a police spokesperson said.
The players will take part in a parade this Sunday afternoon (31) on the Champ-de-Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower, with around 100,000 people expected, before being received by President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace.
