Ten days after the chaotic Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, the defiance and anger of Reds fans is now on display on the gates of Anfield stadium. “Security ignored. Darmanin liar! “, Can we read on a banner, widely distributed on social networks. Accused by the French government of being at the origin of the overflows which occurred outside the Stade de France on May 28, the British supporters were permanently bruised by the management of the event.
Supported by the leaders of their club and some British elected officials, the faithful of Liverpool have increased the pressure around Gérald Darmanin, at the origin of the toughest projections against them. Summoned to explain himself to the French senators, the tenant of Place Beauvau has since formulated timid excuses, acknowledging “inappropriate gestures” on the side of the police and a faulty organization of the sporting event by the authorities.
Online forms
To deal with criticism from across the Channel, the Minister of the Interior indicated that a complaint system would be put in place for supporters who were victims of incidents on the evening of the final. Two forms, translated into Spanish or English, to file a complaint against X are available since Tuesday, June 7 on the website of the French embassies in London and to Madrid.
“These complaints will then be dealt with by the competent courts: the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office for the acts committed in Seine-Saint-Denis or the Paris public prosecutor’s office” for the acts committed near the fan-zones deployed in the capital, indicates Place Beauvau at 20 minutes. If no link to the page offering to report suspicious police behavior with the IGPN is not directly offered, it is possible to report acts other than theft or assault in one of the forms.
In parallel with these documents, two police officers were dispatched to Madrid and three to London to accompany any complainants in their approach. In Madrid, the embassy specifies that these officials will be present until June 17. The aggrieved supporters therefore have barely ten days to report themselves to the French judicial authorities. Contacted, the services of the Embassy in London did not respond to our requests. It is impossible to know how long these police officers will remain on the British side.
Too recent trauma
In the ranks of Liverpool supporters, the device raises more questions than relief. Gathered during a crisis meeting on Saturday June 4, the members of the “Spirit of Shankly” supporters group shared their questions. “We are still consulting with our lawyers to decide on the best course of action,” the organization told 20 minutes.
For some fans, the memory of this evening remains too vivid to initiate legal proceedings. This is the case of Patrick, 55, attacked at the end of the match. Without completely closing the door to a “timely” complaint, this Reds fan says he is “still traumatized”: “I’m not sure that an investigation can help me digest what I experienced tonight- there,” he says.
A sense of injustice
For Carl, on the contrary, the filing of a complaint seems “indispensable”. Present on the evening of the final with his 9-year-old son, this Liverpool fan was targeted by tear gas fired after the match near the stadium. “My son came to watch a football match and he was the victim of abuse that he absolutely did not deserve,” he explains. A feeling of injustice shared by Mathilde, thirty-something French and fan of the Reds since childhood.
Blocked in the crowd for more than two hours in front of one of the doors of the sports arena, the young woman was injured in the ribs after trying to flee jets of tear gas. “I couldn’t see anything and the CRS started charging. We did not understand what was happening, ”she breathes. Member of the group “Spirit of Shankly”, this mother says she is ready to participate in collective proceedings but is still reluctant to file a formal complaint on her behalf. “We are waiting to know what the club and what the group advises us to do but clearly, no one among the supporters wants it to stop there”.
If the extent of the legal consequences linked to these incidents is for the moment difficult to measure, the collection of testimonies carried out by the Liverpool club nevertheless makes it possible to draw the outlines. Set up on Monday May 30, the platform has already received more than 5,000 responses in twenty-four hours, said the executive director of the English club, Billy Hogan. Anxious to verify the elements and accusations transmitted by the club’s supporters, the Liverpool boss said he was “horrified by the way in which men, women and children, able-bodied people and others less so, were treated indiscriminately at the course of the day on Saturday”.