Paris police attacks on Liverpool fans at the Champions League final was yet another example of the hosts’ big game failures
, played in Lens. Trains from Lille were overwhelmed, an unpleasant situation worsened by some away fans letting off firecrackers and harassing other passengers.
When Ryan Giggs scored an 83rd-minute winner with a quickly taken free-kick, Lille fans launched a fusillade of flagpoles on to the pitch. With home and away fans and police all behaving badly, the sense was thatUefa fined United 15,000 Swiss francs for the conduct of their fans and Lille 100,000 Swiss francs “for breaches of security provisions and lack of proper organisation”.
The congestion was worsened by rail strikes diverting a larger proportion of fans than would have been expected to one station and by signposting from the station. But when kick-off was delayed, the first instinct was to blame fans arriving late. That was clearly untrue given there had been lengthy queues for more than three hours.
Police created a potentially fatal situation, attacked innocent fans and were nowhere to be seen when violence broke out and the authorities then lied about it. It sounds flippant to suggest it’s a lot easier to squirt pepper spray through a fence into the face of distressed fans than to take on tooled-up local gangs, but that is what happened.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Klopp says Ceferin should not resign but Paris was ‘worst possible’ venue for finalThe Liverpool manager believes there must be accountability for relocating the Champions League final to Paris
Read more »
Restored Paris art deco public loo worth every penny of €2 chargeLavatory de la Madeleine, opened in 1905, has been closed for 12 years but has been renovated to full belle époque glory
Read more »
Olympic star's massive Paris challenge revealedJessica Fox will take the first step in her passage to the 2024 Games this weekend 9WWOS
Read more »
Newcastle United v Liverpool: Premier League – liveEddie Howe’s team host the only side to have beaten them in the Premier League this season. Get the latest news with Scott Murray
Read more »
Pope sent off for Newcastle as Núñez and Gakpo score in Liverpool’s victoryDarwin Núñez and Cody Gakpo led Liverpool to a 2-0 Premier League victory but Nick Pope’s costly red card for Newcastle rules him out of next weekend’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley
Read more »
France’s rightwing Les Républicains party sacks deputy leaderAurélien Pradié removed after failing to join party in backing President Macron’s plan to raise retirement age
Read more »