France’s defeat by Argentina in the World Cup final did not stop groups of fans from gathering in some French cities, and in some places the situation deteriorated into altercations and clashes with the police, who arrested 227 people.
Some fifty of all these arrests reported by the Ministry of Interior were carried out in Paris, where as usual the largest concentrations took place in the Champs Elysées, which is the traditional place to celebrate sports victories in Paris.
Post-World Cup riots in various cities across France
There were rallies of fans after the end of the Argentina-France World Cup final match in Qatar, which in some cases led to altercations.
Some violent people launched mortar fireworks at police, who had organized a major deployment, especially in the event of a World Cup victory for the ‘bleus’, with 14.000 agents throughout France.
On the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, traffic had been shut down as a precautionary measure and remained interrupted into the evening.
In Lyon, the newspaper Le Progrès reports how in the center of that city “groups of rioters” gathered at the iconic Place Bellecour, the usual venue for the celebrations, where they also threw fireworks, burned garbage cans and looted some stores, prompting law inforcement to intervene.
In fact, the Prefecture (government delegation) explained on its Twitter account that the participants in the riots directed projectiles against the agents, who responded “in a proportionate manner to disperse the hostile individuals”
In practice, they used tear gas and a truck equipped with a pressurized water cannon and made several arrests.
Several policemen were slightly injured in incidents which, according to the Prefecture, ended around 10pm.
In the city of Grenoble, incidents occurred shortly after the end of the World Cup final match in Qatar.
The newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré specifies that garbage cans and containers were burned which caused obscrutions to the tramway tracks and fireworks were thrown at law enforcement agents who, as the night progressed, intervened to regain control of the main points.
In Nice, there were altercations in the center around the Jean Médecin sector, the mayor of the city Christian Estrosi indicated, who on his Twitter account noted that law enforcement were “fully mobilized to ensure security.”
Estrosi condemned “in the strongest terms the actions of the criminals who attacked law enforcement agents and burned garbage containers” and called for “harsh sanctions.”
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.