Champions League: Macron wants 'full transparency' over chaos at final
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Loading... - Allison Bergeron
- 01 Jun 2022
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The match was delayed as Liverpool fans queued outside the stadium.
French police used tear gas and pepper spray on some supporters.
Authorities blamed ticket fraud and the sports minister said Liverpool had let fans "out in the wild". But Liverpool fans contested her version of events.
They blamed organisational failures, heavy-handed policing and overcrowding, while club chairman Tom Werner demanded an apology for minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera's comments.
Footballing sources told AFP that 2,800 fake tickets were detected at the stadium gates, while the French Football Federation alleged that some 35,000 people had shown up with fake tickets or with no tickets at all, causing disorder by blocking the gates.
Mathieu Valet, a spokesman for France's independent police commissioner's union (SICP) told the BBC that it was not fake tickets or ticketless supporters who were the main problem: "It's clear that we needed more police - we didn't have enough on the ground."
A French government spokeswoman said President Macron wanted the light "shone on what really happened, in full transparency, and very quickly".
She said he had full confidence in Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who is facing criticism over how police handled the crowds, while acknowledging the situation could have been handled better.
Mr Darmanin has said there was ticket fraud on "an industrial scale" and defended the police's conduct, saying their actions prevented deaths.
Mr Macron was reportedly "furious" with the interior minister. According to satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné, he found the events outside the Stade de France "shameful" and "unworthy of France".
Mr Darmanin and the sports minister are due to be grilled about the fiasco by the French Senate later on Tuesday. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was said to have discussed the issue when she met the interior minister on Tuesday.
Europe's football governing body Uefa has commissioned an independent report into what happened at the final. Read More...
