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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
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There will be a heavy police presence but few visiting fans at Thursday’s soccer match between France and Israel in the Nations League, with authorities in Paris on high alert amid an increasingly tense political climate.
French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police officers and security staff will be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, with another 1,500 police on public transport. The extreme measures come one week after violence against Israeli fans around a Europa League soccer game in Amsterdam in attacks widely condemned across Europe as antisemitic.
Three months after hosting an Olympic closing ceremony, the atmosphere has gone from festive to fearful and the national stadium was expected to be three-quarters empty for the match. French President Emmanuel Macron and French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau will be present.
Only 20,000 of 80,000 tickets have been sold with around 150 Israel supporters reportedly attending, escorted by police.
“We’ve tried to prepare for this match as normally as possible. But obviously none of us within the team can be insensitive to such a heavy context,” France coach Didier Deschamps said Wednesday. “It impacts the amount of supporters present tomorrow and everything that goes with it.”
The away match against Israel on Oct. 10 — which France won 4-1 — was played in Budapest, Hungary.
“These are situations the players are not accustomed to,” Deschamps said. “But we have to adapt.”
The low number of visiting fans comes after Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sports and cultural events, specifically the match in Paris.
Retailleau told French news channel TF1 on Tuesday that no specific threats were identified but “zero risk does not exist.”
Therefore, he said, exceptional measures are in place “before the match, during the match and after the match.”
The elite tactical unit of the French National Police, known as RAID, will be in the stadium and some police will be in plain clothes mingling with fans. There will also be heavy surveillance within Paris, including at Jewish places of worship.
“It is out of the question that we take the risk of seeing a repeat of the dramatic events, of the manhunt, that we saw in Amsterdam,” Retailleau said, adding that postponing or moving the game elsewhere was ruled out.
“France does not retreat,” he said. “France does not submit, and the France-Israel match will take place where it’s supposed to.”
Last Thursday night, Amsterdam witnessed scenes of chaos when Israeli fans were attacked by hordes of young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people, according to Dutch authorities. Before the game, a large group of supporters of the Israeli team could be seen on video chanting anti-Arab slogans as they headed to the stadium, escorted by police.
Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday night against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel.
The game in Saint-Denis, the suburb north of Paris where the stadium is located, is scheduled to kick off at 8:45 p.m. local time (1945 GMT) on Thursday.
Nine years ago, Stade de France was one of several locations during the Nov. 13 terror attacks in which 130 people died. France was playing Germany that night when two explosions happened outside the stadium.
Deschamps, Germany coach Joachim Löw and all the players stayed together in the locker rooms for hours until it was safe to leave.
“It’s a sad date for us given what happened in 2015,” Deschamps said. ___
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
There will be a heavy police presence but few visiting fans at Thursday’s soccer match between France and Israel in the Nations League, with authorities in Paris on high alert amid an increasingly tense political climate.
French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police officers and security staff will be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, with another 1,500 police on public transport. The extreme measures come one week after violence against Israeli fans around a Europa League soccer game in Amsterdam in attacks widely condemned across Europe as antisemitic.
Three months after hosting an Olympic closing ceremony, the atmosphere has gone from festive to fearful and the national stadium was expected to be three-quarters empty for the match. French President Emmanuel Macron and French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau will be present.
Only 20,000 of 80,000 tickets have been sold with around 150 Israel supporters reportedly attending, escorted by police.
“We’ve tried to prepare for this match as normally as possible. But obviously none of us within the team can be insensitive to such a heavy context,” France coach Didier Deschamps said Wednesday. “It impacts the amount of supporters present tomorrow and everything that goes with it.”
The away match against Israel on Oct. 10 — which France won 4-1 — was played in Budapest, Hungary.
“These are situations the players are not accustomed to,” Deschamps said. “But we have to adapt.”
The low number of visiting fans comes after Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sports and cultural events, specifically the match in Paris.
Retailleau told French news channel TF1 on Tuesday that no specific threats were identified but “zero risk does not exist.”
Therefore, he said, exceptional measures are in place “before the match, during the match and after the match.”
The elite tactical unit of the French National Police, known as RAID, will be in the stadium and some police will be in plain clothes mingling with fans. There will also be heavy surveillance within Paris, including at Jewish places of worship.
“It is out of the question that we take the risk of seeing a repeat of the dramatic events, of the manhunt, that we saw in Amsterdam,” Retailleau said, adding that postponing or moving the game elsewhere was ruled out.
“France does not retreat,” he said. “France does not submit, and the France-Israel match will take place where it’s supposed to.”
Last Thursday night, Amsterdam witnessed scenes of chaos when Israeli fans were attacked by hordes of young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people, according to Dutch authorities. Before the game, a large group of supporters of the Israeli team could be seen on video chanting anti-Arab slogans as they headed to the stadium, escorted by police.
Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday night against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel.
The game in Saint-Denis, the suburb north of Paris where the stadium is located, is scheduled to kick off at 8:45 p.m. local time (1945 GMT) on Thursday.
Nine years ago, Stade de France was one of several locations during the Nov. 13 terror attacks in which 130 people died. France was playing Germany that night when two explosions happened outside the stadium.
Deschamps, Germany coach Joachim Löw and all the players stayed together in the locker rooms for hours until it was safe to leave.
“It’s a sad date for us given what happened in 2015,” Deschamps said. ___
Emmanuel Macron will attend the France-Israel football match at the Stade de France on Thursday in a gesture of “fraternity and solidarity” after attacks on Jewish fans in Amsterdam last week.
Thousands of extra police will be on duty for the game taking place against a backdrop of high tension caused by the conflict in Gaza.
The Elysée said the president’s presence on Thursday aimed to “show his entire and full support for the French team as he does every match” but also “send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable acts of antisemitism that followed the match in Amsterdam”.
Five people needed hospital treatment and up to 30 were injured in “hit-and-run” attacks in Amsterdam after a match between the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and hosts Ajax, with police making more than 60 arrests.
Authorities said the Israeli victims were chased and beaten by youths on mopeds after social media calls to target Jews. Maccabi fans were also filmed attacking locals, burning a Palestinian flag and chanting racist anti-Arab slogans.
The Paris police prefect Laurent Nuñez said the game in Paris was “high risk” and security would be “extremely reinforced”. He said the arrangements were highly unusual for a national team match.
Nuñez said police had not demanded a limit on the number of fans allowed inside the stadium. The French Football Federation said the number of tickets on sale had reached about 20,000 – a quarter of the stadium’s capacity.
Even with the reduced ticket sales, between 4,000 and 5,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilised, compared with a maximum of 1,300 for a French national team match in a sold-out stadium. They will be deployed inside and outside the Stade de France, on public transport and in Paris. In addition, 1,600 security staff have been drafted in for the game. An elite police unit has been assigned to protect the Israeli team.
“The [interior] minister has made available to me the resources of the internal security force, which will enable us to be extremely reactive and prevent any excesses, any disturbances to public order, either during the match, or in the immediate vicinity of the match, or on the route of spectators who will be going to the match,” Nuñez said.
Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, said the attacks there had been carried out by “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” leaving at least five people in hospital. Israel sent planes to evacuate the fans after the violence.
Amsterdam’s police chief, Peter Holla, said there had been “incidents on both sides” and that Maccabi fans tore down a Palestinian flag from the facade of a building in the city centre, vandalised a taxi and shouted anti-Palestine insults.
The Israeli authorities have advised supporters not to attend the match in France and said Israelis abroad should avoid “recognisable Israeli or Jewish symbols”.
“The National Security Council recommends that Israelis abroad act with precaution (…) especially during the coming week, to completely avoid travelling to sports meetings and cultural events involving Israelis, especially to the upcoming match of the Israeli team in Paris,” the Israeli authorities said in a statement.
“Groups that want to attack Israelis have been identified in a number of European cities … at the time of the planned match of the Israeli national team”, the Israeli national security council said on Sunday. It named Brussels, a number of British cities, Amsterdam and Paris.
