“The government has nothing to hide.” On Wednesday June 1, at the end of the day, the Ministers of the Interior and Sports wanted to provide details on the chaotic organization of the Champions League final, four days earlier. Gérald Darmanin and Amélie Oudéa-Castéra were questioned by the Senate Law and Culture Committees about the resounding fiasco of this evening. Counterfeit tickets, delinquency, crowds around the Stade de France … Here is what to remember from their hearing.
Government apologizes
“It is obvious that things could have been better organized”first recognized the Minister of the Interior. “It is obvious that this sports festival has been ruined”added Gérald Darmanin, presenting his “apologies”. “And we very sincerely regret the sometimes unacceptable excesses that have taken place”, he insisted again. Also under fire from critics, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the new Minister of Sports, held on to “reexpress” them “regret” of the government. “My thoughts are also with the Brits. I want to tell them all my regrets for those of them who were deprived of this game but also call on them for some understanding of the difficulties we have encountered”she explained.
Darmanin persists on ticketless fans
Although he made a point of apologizing, the Minister of the Interior reaffirmed that “110,000 people” introduced themselves “in and around the Stade de France”that is “35,000” more than the expected gauge, a point that has been highly contested since Saturday. For Gérald Darmanin, this corresponds to supporters with falsified tickets or without a ticket. “We thought the problems would come from the Liverpool side with the violent hooliganism movements, except the problems came from the counterfeit notes”he conceded.
The authorities had been alerted to the risk
According information from Radio Francea forecast note from the DNational Directorate for the Fight against Hooliganism (DNLH) anticipated the massive presence of English supporters without tickets in Paris and also warned of the risk of counterfeit tickets. “I am making a mea culpa in front of you, I was not aware of the note from the DNLH which mentioned a significant risk of counterfeiting on the English side from Wednesday”conceded Gérald Darmanin, according to whom “the content of this note would not have changed anything”.
The government invokes the reduced deadline
To explain the fiasco of this prestigious evening, the government also highlighted the time it had to organize the final, relocated from Saint Petersburg to Paris after the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, at the end of February. The authorities had to “organize in three months” such an event when they experienced “May 4 the identity of the finalists, with the very strong specificity of Liverpool”underlined the Minister of Sports.
>> We examined the arguments of the authorities to explain the fiasco of the Champions League final
Gérald Darmanin also attacked the particularity of the British club. “The Liverpool club ask questions of public order”he assured, while the “Reds” continue to castigate the attitude of the authorities around the Stade de France.
Fans can file a complaint
The “British and Spanish citizens will be able to lodge a complaint in their country from Monday”, Gérald Darmanin explained to the Senate. Police will be deployed in conjunction with the French embassies in Madrid and London “in order to assist” the British and Spanish supporters who believe they were victims of offenses on Saturday evening at the Stade de France. These citizens will also be able to contact the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).
Policing will be reviewed in the future
Before the senators, the Minister of the Interior assured that he had asked the interministerial delegate for the Olympic Games and major events, Michel Cadot, to consider “different rules” that of dispersion with tear gas in the event of “exceptional sporting events”. “Clearly, the experience deserves to be widely reviewed”, he defended. Otherwise, “two referrals from the IGPN”the police force, have been carried out since last Saturday, he also said during this hearing of more than three hours.