French team hosts Israel amid tensions and heavy police presence

Football team France gets between excellent security deployment and maximum combat readiness combined Israel this Thursday at League of Nationsa week after violence and tension erupted in Amsterdam in connection with the visit of the Israeli team.

This was stated by the head of the French police, Laurent Nunez. 4,000 agents and security personnel were deployed to France Stadium and them neighborhoodand another 1,500 police officers on public transport.

The authorities of Paris were in increased readiness following the riots that occurred before and after the Europa League match in Amsterdam between Ajax And Maccabi Tel Aviv. Dutch authorities indicated that fans of both teams were took part in the riots. The attacks on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.

“From Amsterdam we learned that we must be present in this public place, even far from the stadium“, and in public transport Before and after the game, Nunez said this Thursday in a statement to France Info.

The match in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, was scheduled to start at 20:45 local time. A couple of hours before A. pro-Palestinian demonstration attracted several hundred people to the square in Saint-Denis to protest against the celebration of the match. No incidents reported. The Israeli team bus arrived at the stadium shortly after 19:00 local time.

Declining stadium capacity and low Israeli fan attendance

Three months after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, the atmosphere had turned from festive to somber, and it was expected that three quarters of the stadium were empty this Thursday during a meeting at which the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron and Interior Minister Bruno Retaillot was planned. Former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy were also expected to attend the event.

“We will not give in to anti-Semitism anywhere. And violence, including in the French Republic, will never prevail, nor will intimidation,” Macron told BFM television. Fewer than 20,000 of the 80,000 tickets have been sold and attendance is reported to be around 150 Israeli followersaccompanied by police.

“We tried to prepare for this match as normally as possible. But obviously none of us in the team can remain indifferent to such a difficult context,” the France coach said on Wednesday. Didier Deschamps. The away match against Israel on October 10, which France won 4-1, took place in Budapest, Hungary.

The low fan attendance on Thursday came after Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sporting and cultural events, especially the match in Paris. Retail, for its part, told French news channel TF1 on Tuesday that no specific threats identifiedbut this”there is no such thing as zero risk“.