It was not just the victory (2-1) and the goal of Dimitri Payet Thursday, April 7. In an incandescent atmosphere, the quarter-final first leg of the Europa League conference between OM and PAOK Salonika was marred by numerous incidents, from the pre-match until after the match, less intensely.
At the final whistle, the more than 2,000 PAOK Salonika supporters present at the stadium were kept in the stands in the Velodrome visitor parking lot and blew up many “agricultural bombs“, noted AFP. Many OM fans, installed in the North Bend, also stayed for long minutes in the stands. It took until 11:45 p.m., more than forty minutes after the end of the match, for the stadium is empty with the exception of the visitor parking area, under surveillance by numerous police officers.
Previously, during the second period of the match, the Greek supporters repeatedly threw many projectiles on the lawn, hindering Dimitri Payet when hitting corners. Even earlier, about twenty minutes from kick-off, the tension had suddenly risen between Greek and OM supporters, AFP had already noted.
Throwing pieces of siege and smoke bombs in the public, we’ll have to stop that #OMPAOK #rmclive pic.twitter.com/GaofJcDoix
— Florent Germain (@flogermain) April 7, 2022
Several smoke bombs were thrown from one camp to another, above the safety nets. Marseille supporters also launched fireworks in the direction of the Greek parking lot and very strong explosions of firecrackers sounded. A few pieces of seats were also thrown. A brief crowd movement took place at the bottom of the bend and the police intervened with tear gas in the direction of the Greek fans. The stadium announcer appealed for calm, warning that the match might not start.
According to the police headquarters, “around 30 police officers were injured, mainly by the throwing of various projectiles, smoke bombs and agricultural bombs in the stadium when they intervened between the visitors’ stand and the north bend to avoid clashes“. There are 27 lightly injured among the CRS and four are a little more seriously affected, two of whom have been evacuated, said the prefecture.
“In the return match, I hope that Marseille will be received as we have been received here. I’m very disappointed with what I saw today, it’s a very bad image for the city of Marseille. There is a lot of violence in the world today, there is no need to have it in football“, PAOK coach Razvan Lucescu said in a press conference.Your supporters better not come“, he then dropped in a low voice as he left the press room.
Marseille v Paok 06/04/22 pic.twitter.com/y6YwILAHnn
— ULTRAS (@photos_ultras) April 7, 2022
The Bouches-du-Rhône police headquarters reported the arrest of ten people in all, a Greek for attempting to introduce smoke bombs and nine from Marseille, three for violence against a person holding public authority, four for attempt to introduce smoke bombs and two for throwing projectiles. Already on Wednesday evening, the police had to intervene in town to “avoid clashes“between Greek and Marseille supporters and two Greeks had been arrested.