“Saturday evening, on the sidelines of the Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, the avenue des Champs-Élysées and its surroundings ceased to be a party space to become an urban guerrilla arena,” denounces the town hall in a virulent press release.
“Since it is impossible to celebrate a match without falling into a riot, the only common sense response is a new doctrine: + zero gatherings +”, she claims.
“There were festive demonstrations which were punctuated by a certain number of excesses, which corresponds to the situation that we had planned and therefore anticipated,” assured the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez during a press point around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday. He announced “416 arrests, including 283” for the Paris area alone.
But for the LR mayor of the 8th arrondissement, LR Catherine Lécuyer, the results of the night are “an indictment of public impotence”, with “multiple violence against the police, mortar fire against the police and against homes, burning of trash cans and cars, damage to police vehicles, numerous lootings”.
“We no longer manage overflows, we endure them. The preventive strategy has reached its limits. The concept of +zero damage+ no longer holds up against the violence of organized gangs who no longer even take the trouble to disguise themselves as supporters”, continues the town hall, which fears “a deadly tragedy”.
“We thought we could manage flows, channel passions, secure excesses. This logic of ‘support’ has lived on. We don’t channel chaos, we root it out,” adds the press release.
The Paris Saint-Germain players are expected on Sunday on the Champ-de-Mars, in the 7th arrondissement, where they will commune with nearly 100,000 people, before being received in the afternoon at the Elysée by Emmanuel Macron, then returning to their Parc des Princes in the evening.
Stores barricaded and police deployed: the city of Paris is preparing for the worst for the Champions League final
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