Days after violence erupted in Amsterdam, when more than 60 people were arrested and five taken to hospital, Paris will be taking action to ensure the France v Israel football match set to take place this week will be carried out without violence.
The capital’s police chief said that 2,500 officers would be deployed around the Stade de France, in addition to 1,500 others around Paris and on public transport. 1,600 stadium staff will also be stationed.
France and Israel are playing in a UEFA Nations League match on Thursday evening – and French President Emmanuel Macron will be in attendance, the Élysée presidential palace said.
“There’s a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us,” Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said on French news broadcaster BFM TV, adding that authorities “won’t tolerate” any violence.
“There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” he continued.
Security checks will also be “reinforced”, including systematic pat-downs and bag searches.
Nuñez said that French organisers have been in contact with Israeli authorities and security forces in preparation for the match.
In a statement, Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sports and cultural events, specifically the match in Paris, and be careful of violent attacks “under the pretence of demonstrations.”
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed that the France-Israel match would go ahead as planned.
“I think that for a symbolic reason we must not yield, we must not give up,” he said, noting that sports fans from around the world came together for the Paris Olympics this year to celebrate the “universal values” of sports.
The move comes days after a video circulated online ahead of an Ajax v Maccabi Tel Aviv game showing a crowd of Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slurs on their way to the stadium.
Afterwards, youths on scooters and on foot went in search of Israeli fans, punching and kicking them in attacks said to be inspired by calls on social media to target Jewish people.
The attacks were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across the rest of Europe.
On Sunday, Dutch police detained several people for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been forbidden following the violence targeting Israeli fans, a local broadcaster reported.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema described the events as a “black night and a dark day”, adding that the incident brought to mind pogroms against Jewish people in Dutch and European history, adding that she found what happened in the city to be reprehensible.
