Outrage growing over French police’s ‘disgusting’ and ‘brutal’ behaviour against Liverpool fans in Paris
The behaviour of the French police, during the Champions League final in Paris last weekend, is increasingly criticised.
The Mayor of Liverpool ,Joanne Anderson, who was at the Champions League final in Paris, has described the behaviour of French police against Liverpool fans as “absolutely disgusting”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, Anderson, who arrived three hours early to the stadium so managed to avoid most of the chaos, said: “When the game was delayed and I could see lots of Liverpool seats were empty – so knowing that people with tickets hadn’t been able to get in, I went to walk around the ground to see what was going on.
“Seeing all the Liverpool fans bottlenecked together, shouting at officials, or shouting at stewards, and then the riot police just came over and pepper sprayed them.
“It was absolutely shambolic but also the police behaviour was also really brutal.”
Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson,
“You want your fans to be able to go safely away from the game as well, and police are there to guide you.
“So for me, not only was it a shambolic organisation of the event, but absolutely disgusting behaviour from the police.”
‘Stereotyped’
Anderson said fans at the Champions League final were “stereotyped” by police and deserve an apology “at the very least”.
When asked what she wanted to hear from French police following the incident, she said: “An apology – our fans have been stereotyped in terms of their behaviour.
“I’m actually getting angrier the more stories I’ve heard.”
Mayor of Liverpool
“(Fans should get an) apology at the very least in terms of people’s treatment. Fans need to be treated with more respect.
“Cancelled flights – people have had treacherous journeys just to see the game, and for some people seeing this game is life-changing – it’s amazing to follow your team, it’s amazing to be in Europe – and the very least you expect from the authorities is to be kept organised and safe.”
‘No justification’
There was “no obvious justification” for the kind of behaviour shown by French police at Liverpool’s Champions League final in Paris, culture minister Chris Philp has said.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Philp said: “I was horrified to see those pictures of fans, including some children, disabled fans, being pepper-sprayed by French police.
“And from the pictures I saw there was no obvious justification for that kind of behaviour. So Nadine (Dorries), I think is quite right to call for Uefa to urgently investigate exactly what happened there because we don’t want to see football fans, least of all children and disabled fans, being pepper sprayed by police in the way that we saw.
“So, I really am concerned by it, the Government are as well, and we need Uefa to properly investigate exactly what happened and get to the bottom of it.”
When asked about suggestions Liverpool football fans did not have tickets and were pushing their way in, Mr Philp said: “As I say, we need to get this properly looked into so we understand exactly what happened. But as I say, I saw footage of fans behaving in a perfectly calm way, getting pepper-sprayed, and that just strikes me looking at those pictures as not appropriate.”