Brief scuffle between fans mars France-Israel soccer match amid high security
Paris — There was a brief altercation between a small number of fans early into Thursday's Nations League soccer game between France and Israel despite heavy security inside the stadium, a week after violence erupted in Amsterdam in connection with an Israeli club team's visit.
Around 10 minutes after the game kicked off as scheduled at 8:45 p.m. local time, there was scuffle in the top section of the stand behind one of the goals, with some of those involved having Israeli flags draped over their backs. It was not clear what caused the altercation and security intervened after around one minute.
The match finished in a 0-0 draw with no further incidents at Stade de France. However, Israel's national anthem was whistled by some fans when the players lined up and Israel players were jeered at times when they got the ball.
Chants of "Israel, Israel" could he heard from visiting fans for several minutes before the final whistle.
French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police officers and security staff were deployed in and around the stadium, with another 1,500 police on public transport.
Several buses carrying Israel fans arrived under police escort and some were waving flags inside the stadium. Less than 20,000 of 80,000 tickets were sold, with around 150 Israel supporters present.
Security forces were on high alert in Paris ahead of the match. Israel's team bus arrived at the stadium shortly after 7 p.m. local time. Around one hour before kickoff, Nuñez visited the stadium's video surveillance facilities along with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.
Three months after hosting the Olympic closing ceremony, the atmosphere has gone from festive to fearful. French President Emmanuel Macron and Retailleau was present, along with former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Thousands of protesters marched Wednesday night to voice their opposition to Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, including 46-year-old Nacim Bordiah, who said France "should be boycotting the match."
"We stopped Russia and South Africa from playing in the Olympics," he said, referring to Russia's ongoing ban from the global sports event due to the war in Ukraine and the South Africans being barred during the reign of its white apartheid regime. "Why not Israel now?"
The march was peaceful, but tension was running high on the heels of antisemitic violence last week on the streets of Amsterdam following a game between Israeli and Dutch teams.
Among the Israeli fans who came to support Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam, there were some who marched through the streets before the game chanting "death to Arabs" and tore down a Palestinian flag. But after the match, mobs cornered Israeli fans and bystanders, beating and kicking them and throwing one into a canal.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema condemned the violence, saying in its wake that "Jewish Israeli supporters were hunted down and attacked via anti-Semitic calls on social media and on the streets."
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof described the violence as a "terrible antisemitic attack" and declared himself "deeply ashamed" for the country's capital city, while his Israeli and American counterparts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden, also voiced disgust and horror at the attacks targeting Jews.
Speaking Tuesday, Mayor Halsema said "a more complete picture" had emerged of the clashes that gripped Amsterdam last week, "and all sorts of terrible things happened," but she stressed that it "in no way negates" that a call had been issued in her city for a "hunt for Jews."
Clashes have persisted since then, despite a temporary ban on demonstrations in Amsterdam, with police breaking up one protest that sought to defy the ban as recently as Wednesday evening. A train in Amsterdam was also attacked, with one man shouting, "cancer Jew!"