Heavy security arrangements were in place across Paris on Thursday ahead of a UEFA Nations Cup soccer game between France and Israel, a week after violence erupted in Amsterdam after a Europa League game featuring Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv—which European leaders have condemned as antisemitic.
French riot policemen secure the Stade-de-France ahead of the training for the French and Israeli ... [+]
Around 4,000 police and security officers will be deployed in and around the Stade de France soccer stadium and on public transport around the French capital, Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez told local broadcaster France Info.
Nuñez said the French national police’s elite tactical unit RAID has been put in charge of the security of the visiting Israeli team.
French media reports suggest fan turnout for Thursday’s game will be low, with only 20,000 fans expected to watch the game in the 80,000-capacity stadium.
Police will escort around 150 Israeli fans who have come to watch the game—while French President Emmanuel Macron will also reportedly attend along with his predecessors Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
In a post on X, French police announced they have been authorized to deploy drones with cameras across the city to surveil crowds on both Thursday and Friday—although it is unclear if the drones will be present all across Paris.
A pro-Palestinian protest is set to take place in Paris’ Saint-Denis plaza hours before Thursday night’s match, which Nuñez said there were discussions to move to a more distant location.
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Last week, after a Europa League game in Amsterdam, fans of the Israeli soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv were attacked by locals, in an incident decried by authorities as an antisemitic attack. The Israeli embassy said the fans were “ambushed and brutally attacked” by a mob chanting “anti-Israel slogans” and it compared the incident with “Kristallnacht,” a pogrom against Jewish people carried out in Nazi Germany. Maccabi fans were also involved in incidents of vandalism, including tearing down a Palestinian flag and chanting anti-Arab slogans, local authorities said.
On Wednesday, several pro-Palestinian groups organized protests in Paris against an event organized by the French far-right in support of Israel and its military. According to Le Monde, Israeli Finance Minister and far-right politician Bezalel Smotrich was invited to attend the so-called “Israel is Forever” event which was meant to raise funds for the Israeli military. But the Israeli minister’s office said Smotrich would not attend. The protests were largely peaceful although police fired tear gas at a group of demonstrators who reportedly damaged the windows of a McDonald’s on the protest route.
After last week’s violence in Amsterdam, there were calls to relocate Thursday’s game to another country, but this suggestion was shut down by French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau who wrote on X: “Some people are calling for the France-Israel match to be relocated. I won't accept it: France won't back down because that would be tantamount to abdicating in the face of threats of violence and anti-Semitism.”
A French riot policeman secures the Stade-de-France ahead of the training for the French and Israeli ... [+]
More than 4,000 police and security officers are expected to be deployed across Paris on Thursday.
Israel's headcoach Ran Ben Shimon (C) gestures during a training session at the Stade de France.
Protestors take part in a rally against the "Israel is Forever" gala organized by far-right ... [+]
More protests are expected to take place on Thursday.
France mounts security operation for Israel match after Amsterdam violence (BBC News)