French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin admitted at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that the weekend’s Champions League final in Paris "could have been better organised" after scenes of chaos and fans being teargassed went viral. Darmanin has faced growing criticism over the police’s crowd management tactics as well as accusations of lying after he blamed massive ticket fraud for the crush of fans.
"Clearly things could have been organised better. It is obvious that this sports celebration was ruined and we very much regret the problems, which were unacceptable," Gérald Darmanin told a Senate committee hearing about security at the game.
He also apologised for the "disproportionate" use of teargas.
The hearing comes days after chaos erupted during Saturday’s Champions League final at the Stade de France near Paris. The match, in which Real Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0, was delayed by more than half an hour after police forcibly held back people trying to enter the stadium grounds.
Riot police tear-gassed some fans, including families with children.
Some 110,000 fans converged on the Stade de France that night, Darmanin said, although he added that the police presence had been sufficient. One British fan was arrested for violence among 14 other British people arrested over the crowd trouble.
Darmanin also tried to blame hooliganism for part of the problem. "It is clear – all the security services say so – that those from Liverpool pose public order problems. Not all of their supporters but a small part of their supporters," said Darmanin
Two possible cases of disproportionate use of force have been referred to France's police watchdog, he said.
A dispute has erupted between Britain and France over who is to blame for the disorder, with many Liverpool fans asserting they had caused no trouble while French officials have blamed Liverpool fans turning up en masse with fake tickets for contributing to chaos at the stadium.
Both Darmanin and Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra are appearing before a Senate committee hearing to face questions about security at the game and the actions of police.
The chaotic scenes that emerged have tarnished France's image ahead of hosting the rugby World Cup next year and the Olympics in 2024.
Earlier on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron urged the government to investigate the incident and called for "full transparency".
"What the president wants ... is for the light to shine on what really happened, in full transparency and very quickly," government spokeswoman Olivia Grégoire told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting, adding that Macron still supports Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who has come under fire as the official in charge of the nation's police force.
When questioned at a press briefing on Wednesday, Grégoire said Macron "has full confidence in Gérald Darmanin as interior minister".
But she admitted the situation could have been handled better. "Simply put, could we have done better and managed it better? Yes," said Grégoire, adding her apologies to fans whose evenings were ruined by the disorder.
The fake ticket question
Police and French officials say Liverpool fans, either without tickets or with fake tickets, were trying to force their way into the arena.
Darmanin has said tickets were forged "on an industrial scale" and that many Liverpool fans turned up despite not having valid tickets, leading to a crush around the stadium. He said police actions that night prevented people from being killed.
But Darmanin's version of events has been challenged by Liverpool fans present at the match and he has been criticised by politicians in both France and Britain. The interior minister has been accused of lying when he said that 30,000 to 40,000 Liverpool fans had turned up at the stadium either "without tickets or with counterfeited tickets".
He also claimed that as many as 70 percent of tickets were found to be fraudulent by staff at the first security checkpoints outside the Stade de France.
Sources within UEFA and the French football federation told AFP on Tuesday that only 2,800 fake tickets were detected at the entrance gates of the stadium, suggesting the problem was more about managing the flows of people outside.
Ahead of the hearing, Senate committee chief François-Noël Buffet told Franceinfo radio that ascertaining the number of counterfeit tickets was key to understanding how the chaos unfolded.
"We need to know what the truth is. The [interior and sports] ministers need to say what they are basing their statements on," added Buffet.
Pugnacious hardliner
As the nation's top cop, Darmanin, 39, has rejected the criticism of the police – calling it "rather low and inappropriate" – despite images showing some officers firing teargas and pepper spray that also affected children and disabled fans.
Others who attended the game complained about the police causing bottlenecks in the approach to the stadium and keeping the gates locked, leading to the start of the match being delayed by 36 minutes.
The scenes have caused renewed tensions between France and Britain and have become a domestic political headache for the government less than two weeks before parliamentary elections.
Darmanin is a pugnacious hardliner from northern France who was kept on in his role as interior minister following Macron's re-election in April.
He is an ardent defender of the French police against recurrent criticism of their tactics, once saying that "when I hear the term 'police violence', personally, I choke".
That July 2020 remark came amid a debate in France about the use of chokeholds by police that had been linked to the deaths of two men of African origin.
The left-leaning "Libération" newspaper depicted him on its front page on Wednesday with his nose stretched out like Pinocchio.
The newspaper's editorial, headlined "Lie", said the Champions League final "risks remaining in the annals of the republic long even after it has been forgotten by football fans".
Senior leftist opposition MP Manuel Bompard told Franceinfo on Wednesday that "the explanation given by Mr Darmanin ... is an explanation that does not make sense".
"When you make a mistake – and mistakes happen – the best thing is to acknowledge your error, not to invent fake figures to try to hide it," he said.
Liverpool's chief executive Billy Hogan said the club had received more than 5,000 complaints from supporters in 24 hours regarding the chaos.
"We're aware there were many fans who were injured on Saturday evening and we've asked UEFA for their match day log, which includes any medical incidents for the night, so we can reach out to those supporters and families to help if we can," said Hogan.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
