Classified as risk level 3 out of 5 by the National Division for the Fight against Hooliganism (DNLH), the match between PSG and Maccabi Haifa, this Tuesday (9 p.m.) in the Champions League, is feared by the authorities. A reinforced security system of “800 police and gendarmes” is thus planned by the Paris police headquarters for this European poster disputed at the Parc des Princes. In a note from the Paris police headquarters, the security services explain that “this meeting presents high risks of disturbing public order” for several reasons.
First, because the “supporters of the Ultras Paris collective will be present in large numbers” and that they could take advantage of the match to show “their support for the Palestinian cause”. Then, because “ultra-Zionist militants, including some close to the former Jewish Defense League” could also be there to “protect Israeli supporters”.
Hundreds of “isolated” Israeli supporters?
The security services also evoke the possibility that “Parisian risk elements” are around the Parc des Princes to “attack Israeli supporters”. The note further mentions the fact that “according to the Israeli Embassy, approximately 2,000 Maccabi Haifa supporters not from Israel” are “likely to have purchased seats in the general public stands”.
However, “their isolation in the midst of Parisian supporters could create security risks, for themselves or for those around them if they did not respect neutral behavior”. In this context, it has been planned to mobilize “1,400 stewards”, to constitute “a security reserve of 350 places in the visitors’ stand in order to be able to relocate Maccabi Haifa supporters isolated in the general public stands”.
The visitor parking gauge slightly reduced
The gauge of the visitors’ stand has been reduced to “1,650 places for Maccabi supporters against 2,000 usually”, as detailed in the note. To control the flow of Israeli supporters whose arrival in France would not be supervised, “ticket purchases from IP addresses in Israel have been blocked”. During a meeting with the prefect of police in Paris, the Israeli embassy undertook to relay the security instructions for any supporter from Israel: no flag or colors of the Maccabi club in the transport, around the stadium and in the stadium, except once in the visitors’ stand.
PSG also publishes this Tuesday a caution to ticket buyers for this match, by listing the “distinctive signs” prohibited within the grounds of the Parc des Princes, such as the shirt or the flag of the opposing team, or “flags of nationalities not represented in the Parisian workforce “. In addition to Israeli flags, those of Palestine, which could be brandished en masse, especially in the Auteuil bend, are in the sights of PSG. “Anyone presenting with one of the attributes mentioned above is liable to exclusion from the stadium”, warns the club.