France’s sports minister has blamed fans without tickets for the chaos ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final.
Amelie Oudea-Castera has accused fans with fake tickets for causing the problems in Paris.
French police used pepper spray and tear gas at Liverpool supporters ahead of their 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid at the Stade de France.
💬 Incidents du #StadeDeFrance : "Avec les faux et les sans billets, entre 30 et 40 000 personnes", selon la ministre des Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra invitée de @VenturaAlba dans #RTLMatin (cc @AOC1978) pic.twitter.com/TR0zUZqWjh
— RTL France (@RTLFrance) May 30, 2022
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“What happened, first of all, was this mass gathering of the British supporters of the Liverpool club, without tickets, or with fake tickets,” Oudea-Castera told French radio station RTL.
“A certain number of youths from the nearby area who were present tried to get in by mixing in with the crowd.”
The local authorities, police and final organisers were due to meet at 1000BST, the PA news agency understands, to review events outside the stadium during which Liverpool fans queueing for admission were tear-gassed.
The move comes amid concerted calls for an investigation from British MPs amid condemnation of the way the Premier League club’s supporters were treated, with local authorities claiming long delays were caused by some trying to gain entry using “fake” tickets.
Tonight I have written to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to urge the strongest possible response to the horrific treatment of Liverpool fans at the Champions League Final in Paris last night. I have made 7 specific demands that I believe must be urgently acted upon. pic.twitter.com/MIZ2dIkqJf
Advertisement— lan Byrne MP (@IanByrneMP) May 29, 2022
Ian Byrne, the Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, attended the match in Paris and said he had never witnessed such scenes since the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. He has written to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with a list of seven demands, including a formal probe and apologies, aimed at UEFA and the French authorities.
In his letter, he said: “The French authorities and UEFA are quite simply covering their own backs with this narrative.
“As a Liverpool fan, I was in Paris for the match and I can honestly say that the situation outside the ground was one of the most horrendous experiences of my life – and as a Hillsborough survivor, I do not make this comment lightly.”
Merseyside Police observers described the behaviour of the vast majority of supporters as “exemplary”, while their counterparts from the Paris prefecture said some had “employed strong force” in a bid to get into the stadium.
Liverpool said on Saturday night they had “officially requested a formal investigation into the causes of these unacceptable issues”, while CEO Billy Hogan told LFCTV the treatment of fans was “absolutely unacceptable” and that “people’s safety was put at risk”.
UK culture secretary Nadine Dorries said: “I urge UEFA to launch a formal investigation into what went wrong and why, in co-ordination with stadium staff, the French police, the French football federation, Merseyside Police and Liverpool Football Club.
“It is in the interests of everyone involved to understand what happened and to learn lessons from these events.”
