Liverpool FC has called for an investigation after the British club’s fans were repeatedly tear-gassed outside the Stade de France.
Riot police in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis repeatedly fired tear gas at Liverpool supporters forced to endure long waits to get into the Champions League final. Liverpool FC has called for an investigation after the British club’s fans were repeatedly tear-gassed outside the Stade de France on Saturday. The start of the match, which Liverpool lost 1-0 to Real Madrid, was delayed by more than half an hour as security struggled to deal with the crowds trying to enter the stadium. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the governing body of European soccer, and French authorities appear to have pinned blame on British supporters—but fans said they were tear-gassed for « no reason » and that the fault lies squarely with the organizers and French police. UEFA’s initially blamed the delay on the late arrival of fans, but in a later statement said turnstiles « at the Liverpool end » of the stadium became blocked because thousands of fans were trying to access the stadium with fake tickets.
« This created a buildup of fans trying to get in », UEFA said. « As a result, the kickoff was delayed by 35 minutes to allow as many fans as possible with genuine tickets to gain access. As numbers outside the stadium continued to build up after kickoff, the police dispersed them with tear gas and forced them away from the stadium. »
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin alleged British fans without tickets or with counterfeit tickets had forced entry and in some cases, assaulted stewards.
« Thousands of British ‘supporters’, without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, forced entry and sometimes assaulted the stewards », he tweeted. The Paris Prefecture de Police issued its own statement saying people without tickets or with fake tickets were « exerting strong pressure to enter the enclosure », delaying access for those with tickets.
