Police are keeping a close eye on the France-Israel soccer match after the violence in Amsterdam
A large police presence but few visiting fans are expected when France host Israel in the Nations League on Thursday, a week after violence broke out in Amsterdam over the visit of the Israeli team.
French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police and security personnel would be deployed at the Stade de France, and another 1,500 public transport police.
Paris authorities are on high alert following violence in Amsterdam before and after the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Dutch authorities say supporters of both sides played a role in the violence. The attack on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and was widely criticized as anti-Semitic.
“What we learned in Amsterdam is that we need to be present in public space, including away from the stadium” and in public transport before and after the game, Nuñez said on Thursday to French broadcaster France Info.
Three months after hosting the closing ceremony of the Olympics, the atmosphere has changed from celebration to fear, and the national stadium was expected to remain empty for the game. French President Emmanuel Macron and French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau will be in attendance.
Former French presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy will also attend.
“We will not allow anti-Semitism, anywhere. And violence, including the French Republic, will not prevail, and will not be threatened,” Macron told BFM television.
Only 20,000 of the 80,000 tickets have been sold, and an estimated 150 supporters of the Israeli team were reportedly present, escorted by police.
“We have tried to prepare for this match as normally as possible. But it is clear that none of us in the team can be sensitive to such a difficult situation,” said France coach Didier Deschamps on Wednesday. “It affects the number of fans there tomorrow and everything that goes with it.”
Amsterdam has banned protests for three days from Friday while giving police emergency powers to stop them quickly after an overnight attack by Israeli football fans. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were ‘attacked, harassed and had explosives thrown at them’ by what she described as ‘opposition groups attacking and running.’
The away match against Israel on October 10 – which France won 4-1 – was played in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
“These are situations the players are not used to,” said Deschamps. “But we have to adapt.”
The low number of visiting fans comes after Israel’s National Security Council warned foreign citizens to avoid sporting and cultural events, particularly the match in Paris.
Retaileau told French news channel TF1 on Tuesday that no specific threats had been identified, but “there is no danger.” So, he said, there are different measures that exist “before the game, during the game and after the game.”
France’s national police team, known as RAID, will be at the stadium, while other police officers will be in plain clothes mingling with fans. There will also be heavy surveillance inside Paris, including Jewish places of worship and schools.
A repeat of the violence is ‘out of the question,’ the minister said
“There is no doubt that we risk seeing a repeat of the dramatic events, the search, that we saw in Amsterdam,” said Retailleau, adding that postponing or moving the game elsewhere is wrong.
“France is not submissive, and the match between France and Israel will happen where it should,” he said.
In Amsterdam, a number of Maccabi fans attacked a car and chanted anti-Arab slogans, while other men attacked people they thought were Jews, according to Mayor Femke Halsema.
After the match, sections of a large group of Maccabi supporters armed with sticks ran around “destroying things,” said a 12-page report on the violence released by Amsterdam authorities.
There were also “rioters, traveling in small groups, on foot, by motorcycle or by car, quickly attacking Maccabi fans before disappearing,” the statement said.
On Wednesday night, protests broke out in Paris against a rally that has caused a stir organized by those who support Israel.
The match in Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris, is scheduled to start at 8:45pm local time.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof condemned the violent attack on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, Thursday night. The video shows some Israelis tearing up the Palestinian flag and chanting anti-Arab slogans the day before, suggesting it was tense.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration is planned in Saint-Denis plaza at 6 pm local time to protest the game.
Nine years ago, the Stade de France was one of several venues during the terrorist attack on November 13 in which 130 people died. France was playing against Germany that night when two explosions occurred outside the stadium.
Deschamps, Germany coach Joachim Löw and all the players stayed together in the locker room for hours until it was safe to leave.
“It is a sad day for us if we look at what happened in 2015,” said Deschamps.
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