The Espacio Piscina bar-restaurant, very close to the Abbé-Deschamps stadium in Auxerre, was ransacked during a clash between Marseille and Auxerre supporters, this Saturday, September 3, a few hours before the Ligue 1 match between the two teams. The boss accuses the police of not having reacted.
A scene that is painful to see on the sidelines of a football match. This Saturday, September 3 shortly after noon, the terrace of the Espacio Piscina bar-restaurant, in Auxerre, was the scene of a violent clash between ultra Marseille and Auxerre supporters. “It was war for 10 minutes, 10 very long minutess”, testifies the boss, Dimitri Quillin, his voice still trembling.
“They ransacked everything, broke everything on the terrace“, laments the restaurateur. The clash took place around 1:30 p.m., when many customers were seated. “The Marseillais arrived at 150-200 to blow up everything. They broke down the gate for me. I had 120 customers barricaded in the room, with families, children crying! Outside, they took my truck, they threw it in the middle of the road…“
Dimitri Quillin says that ultras from Auxerre intervened to prevent the Marseillais from entering the restaurant. “They took everything that came to hand, my glasses, my plates, the fire extinguishers, to throw them at the Marseillais and prevent them from returning. But they were 25, against more than a hundred Marseilles!“
The boss of the Espacio Piscina accuses the police of not having reacted, despite several alerts. “At noon, I called the police to tell them: be careful, I hear that Marseille supporters are going to come to my bar to fight it out. I was told: we have no one, we can’t come. 15 minutes later, the ultras from Auxerre told me again: be careful, they are coming. So I call the police station, I ask that they come and secure the restaurant for me, and what do they say to me at 12:15 p.m.? “We can’t put anyone, we’re in debrief.” And there, I find myself with my ransacked bar.”
“Yes, there is probably a problem with supporters. But I called 1h30 before the fight to ask for security. We’ve known for 15 days that the stadium will be full tonight! And I’m told that ‘there’s no one at the police!’
For the restorer,the Auxerre supporters took the place of the police”. “If they hadn’t been there to defend the bar, the Marseillais would have returned, and it would have been serious” The police confirm to France 3 that they were unable to move because of a “lack of staff“. She mentions several minor injuries. Contacted, the prefecture has not yet responded to our requests.