French minister sorry for Champions League fiasco

PARIS • French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Tuesday made a partial apology for the chaos that erupted ahead of last month's Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool in Paris, but continued to insist fake tickets and "delinquency" were mostly to blame.

"Should things have been managed better at the Stade de France? The answer is yes. Am I partly responsible? The answer is yes," he told RTL radio. "Of course, I readily apologise towards everyone who suffered from this bad management of the event."

After scenes of fans crowded into tight spaces and being tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed by police caused outrage, Mr Darmanin poured fuel on the fire by blaming supporters with fake tickets for the disruption.

Uefa events director Martin Kallen last week told French senators investigating the fiasco that the European football governing body's count of fake tickets was far short of the tens of thousands claimed by French authorities.

"We don't believe it's the number mentioned in France," he said, adding that 2,600 fake tickets were identified at the turnstiles - compared with the number of 30,000 to 40,000 people with fake tickets and without tickets suggested by Mr Darmanin.

But the 39-year-old French minister doubled down on his accusation on Tuesday, saying: "It was a question of fake tickets... that created the difficulties we all know about of large crowds of fans packed into underpasses or outside locked gates."

He also blamed troublemakers from the surrounding Saint-Denis suburb - one of the most crime-ridden areas in France - for exacerbating the problems, adding that "if there was something that went wrong at the Stade de France, it was the fight against delinquency".

Mr Darmanin added that he had already ordered a reorganisation of policing around the venue and that three major matches since had passed without incident.

But while some supporters did report being victims of crime by gangs of youths before and after the match, which Real won 1-0 for their 14th European Cup, there were also many complaints about police treatment of fans.

Disabled Liverpool fans last week told the French Senate how officers sprayed tear gas at people in wheelchairs and English supporters have reacted with particular fury to Mr Darmanin's defence of the heavy-handed tactics used by French police.

"People's memories will forever be tarred by the lack of organisation and heavy-handed policing, and then of course the way authorities tried to deflect blame and scapegoat Liverpool fans for their incompetence," Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram said.

CCTV footage from around the stadium has also been deleted despite the Senate probe.

A government report published earlier this month said a "chain of failures" by the French authorities has inflicted "severe damage" on the image of the country as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, although Mr Darmanin has dismissed the clashes as exclusive to football.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE