Five Olympique de Marseille supporters were arrested on the evening of Thursday 7 April, before the quarter-final of the Europa League Conference against PAOK Salonika, according to the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture: qfour of them for attempting to introduce smoke and the last for throwing a projectile at a bus. Earlier in the evening, four people had already been arrested near the Vélodrome stadium. These are three Marseille supporters, arrested for violence against a person holding public authority and a Greek supporter for attempting to introduce smoke, reports the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture.
A supporter of Olympique de Marseille had already been arrested on the night of Wednesday to Thursday for suspicion of violence on a CRS in Marseille, according to a police source at franceinfo. Two supporters of PAOK Salonika, presented as “Greek thugs” by the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture, were also arrested on Thursday. These arrests took place while the police intervened three times during the night to prevent clashes between a total of 200 Marseille supporters and 500 Greek supporters of the PAOK Salonika football club.
At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, the Greek supporters arrived at their hotel, escorted by the police, who had to disperse Marseille supporters who were waiting for them in front of the establishment. The Greeks were escorted to the hotel and remained inside but “some Greek fans tried to leave the hotel to fight it out and were trapped inside, where they committed damage”said the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture in a press release on Wednesday evening.
At 11 p.m., other Greek supporters arrived at another hotel, on board three buses. The vehicles were targeted by jets of smoke and fireworks mortars, according to a police source. Security forces used tear gas canisters to disperse them. A few minutes later, the scene is repeated in Marseille: OM supporters try to attack Greek supporters, they are also dispersed by the police.
The Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture explained on Thursday that the Greek supporters had violated the ban on coming to Marseille which had been agreed with PAOK. Greek supporters arrested “will have to explain themselves to French justice”, writes the prefecture in a tweet.
❌ #OMPAOK | The Greek club violated the security instructions they had agreed to.
Already 2 arrests of Greek thugs claiming the values of sport…
They will have to explain themselves to French justice.– Prefect of police of Bouches-du-Rhône (@prefpolice13) April 7, 2022