Paris, France. More than 200 people were injured and one person died in Paris following Paris Saint-Germain’s second consecutive Champions League win, according to the interior ministry. The celebrations revived debate in France over street violence after the match.
Violence after victory parade
A day after PSG beat Arsenal in a penalty shootout in Budapest, fans gathered at the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower to celebrate the team’s victory parade on Sunday afternoon.
The night after the match was marked by unrest, with police saying 57 officers were injured in Paris and more than 400 people were detained, some outside the capital.
Authorities said some storefronts in Paris were damaged, while rioters also set fire to cars and rental bike stands.
Unrest reported beyond Paris
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said there was also vandalism against public buildings in provincial towns such as Orleans.
Police said officers were not specifically targeted in most places, although brief clashes took place at one police station in central Paris on Saturday evening.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office said one young man died following a motorcycle accident during the unrest.
Government response and political reaction
Nunez, a former Paris police chief, said a security operation involving more than 20,000 officers had been deployed and that the violence had been systematically addressed. “The situation was, overall, under control,” he said.
Politicians from the far-right National Rally, which is leading in opinion polls ahead of next year’s presidential election, used the unrest to renew calls for tougher law-and-order policies.
“Only in France does a victory of a football club trigger riots,” said Marine Le Pen, the party’s leader.