There was a brief altercation between a small number of fans early into Thursday’s Nations League soccer game between France and Israel despite heavy security inside the stadium.
Around 10 minutes after the game kicked off as scheduled at 8:45 p.m. local time, there was scuffle in the top section of the stand behind one of the goals, with some of those involved having Israeli flags draped over their backs. It was not clear what caused the altercation and security intervened after around one minute.
The match finished in a 0-0 draw with no further incidents at Stade de France. However, Israel’s national anthem was whistled by some fans when the players lined up and Israel players were jeered at times when they got the ball.
Chants of “Israel, Israel” could he heard from visiting fans for several minutes before the final whistle.
Seeking to prevent a repeat of violence in Amsterdam last week around a Europa League game involving Maccabi Tel Aviv, 4,000 French security personnel were deployed in and around the stadium and on public transport.
Several buses carrying Israel fans arrived under police escort and some were waving flags inside the stadium. Some 100 Israel fans defied a warning from their government against travelling for sports events, sitting in a corner of the 80,000-capacity stadium which was barely a fifth full.
“I didn’t see the scuffles. We had to play this game in a context that we would like not to have. It’s obviously weird to play in front of such a [small] crowd,” France manager Didier Deschamps said after the match.
Leading up to the game, several hundred anti-Israeli demonstrators had gathered at a square in Paris’ Saint-Denis district perimeter, waving Palestinian flags, as well as a few Lebanese and Algerian ones, to protest against the match.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said this week there was never any doubt the match would go ahead, following the unrest in Amsterdam which saw both Maccabi fans and local groups engage in violence, according to Dutch police.
He said there were no specific threats identified ahead of the game, but that zero risk did not exist.
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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