Brief argument between fans at the France-Israel football match

PARIS (AP) – A week after violence in Amsterdam over the visit of an Israeli club team, a brief altercation broke out among a small number of fans in the early hours of Thursday’s Nations League match between France and Israel, despite heavy security at the stadium.

About 10 minutes after the match started at 20.45 local time, a brawl broke out behind one of the goals at the top of the stands, and Israeli flags were hung on the backs of some players. While it is not yet clear what caused the fight, security intervened about 1 minute later.

Some fans also applauded and whistled the Israeli national anthem when the players lined up.

French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police officers and security personnel were deployed in and around the Stade de France, while 1,500 police were deployed on public transport.

Scores of buses carrying Israeli fans arrived escorted by police, some waving flags inside the stadium. With approximately 150 Israel fans present, fewer than 20,000 of the 80,000 tickets were sold.

Paris authorities were alarmed after the incident violence in amsterdam Before and after the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Dutch officials said fans from both sides were involved in the incidents. Attacks on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.

“What we learned from Amsterdam is that we need to be in public spaces, including away from the stadium, and on public transport before and after the match,” Nuñez told French news broadcaster France Info on Thursday.

A few hours before the match, a pro-Palestinian demonstration gathered hundreds of people in a square in Saint-Denis to protest the match. There were no reported incidents.

The Israeli team bus arrived at the stadium shortly after 7pm local time. About an hour before kick-off, Nuñez visited the stadium’s video surveillance facilities with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.

Three months after hosting the meeting Olympic closing ceremonyThe atmosphere changed from revelry to fear. French President Emmanuel Macron and Retailleau were also there. former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.

“We will not bow to antisemitism anywhere. “Violence will never prevail, nor will intimidation, including in the French Republic,” Macron told BFM TV channel before the match.

The low number of visitors on Thursday came after Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sporting and cultural events, especially matches in Paris.

Retailleau told French news channel TF1 on Tuesday that exceptional measures were justified, although no official threats had been received.

The French National Police’s elite tactical unit, known as RAID, was in the stadium and some plainclothes officers mingled with the fans. There was also intense surveillance in Paris, including at Jewish places of worship and schools.

“We cannot risk seeing a repeat of the dramatic manhunt we saw in Amsterdam,” Retailleau said, adding that it was unlikely the game would be postponed or moved elsewhere.

According to Mayor Femke Halsema, some Maccabi fans in Amsterdam attacked a taxi and shouted anti-Arab slogans, while some men carried out “hit-and-run” attacks on people they thought were Jews.

In the 12-page report published by Amsterdam authorities on the violence, it was stated that after the match, a large group of Maccabi fans armed with sticks ran around “destroying things”.

It was also stated that there were “rioters moving in small groups on foot, scooter or car and quickly attacking Maccabi fans before disappearing”.

Protests flared up in Paris against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures who support Israel on Wednesday night.

Nine years ago the Stade de France was one of the few venues in football row. November 13 terrorist attacks The incident in which 130 people died. That night France were playing Germany and two explosions occurred outside the stadium.

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AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin and Associated Press writer Tom Nouvian contributed to this report. ___

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