Man Killed As Psg Fans Run Amok.

[redrus]

Man killed as PSG fans run amok

It was only a matter of time before someone was killed following football violence in Paris. Last night the inevitable happened.

Paul Doyle; Guardian

November 24, 2006 02:02 PM

The City of Lights? Sorry, when it comes to football Paris is more like the city of fights. Squabbling between under-achieving players and a disciplinarian manager is one thing, but much more serious is the chaotic violence among Paris Saint-Germain's fans, who've been wreaking havoc for years. A death has seemed inevitable for quite a while now, and last night, to the surprise of no one, a 24-year-old man was shot dead and another critically wounded as police opened fire on rampaging fans.

Among the PSG fans who populate the Parc des Princes are several radical gangs, some of whom are openly racist, most of whom fight amongst themselves as well with anyone else they happen to come across. The Neo-Nazi who tried to shoot Jacques Chirac during the Bastille Day parade in 2002 was linked to the 'Boulogne Boys', sworn enemies of one of the other groups, the more racially diverse but often equally aggressive 'Tigris Mystic'. That same year a fan from Marseille (who also have hooligan problems) was paralysed by a chair thrown by a PSG fan at the Parc. Two seasons ago, PSG fans ambushed the Marseille team bus as it pulled into the Parc, smashing the windows with stones and other missiles as the players cowered under their seats.

Last season, 30 fans from rival PSG groups were banned by the club after destroying a petrol station on their way back from a defeat in Nantes. They had met in the station for a rumble, and came armed with baseball bats. Also last season, a report found that PSG fans were responsible for half of all violence in French stadiums. Then-chairman Pierre Blayau admitted at the time that the club was being "taken hostage" by fans. "The problem is that these people claim to belong to official groups of supporters, but those groups can't control them any more", Blayau said.

Last night's bloodshed came in the aftermath of PSG's Uefa Cup defeat by Hapeol Tel Aviv. Violent anarchy erupted around the Parc after the game. According to Philippe Broussard, a L'Express journalist who witnessed events, "hundreds of Parisians were picking fights all over the place". Bizarrely, there appeared to be only a flimsy police presence. Around 150 PSG fans descended on a lone Hapoel supporter. A black plainclothes policeman came to the fan's aid. His attempts to disperse the crowd with a teargas canister failed and the aggressors turned on him, belching racist slogans. "The crowd were getting more and more hostile; he [the policeman] was clearly trying to protect someone because I could hear him shouting 'stay behind me! Stay behind me'", said Broussard. "Then I heard several people shout 'he's got a gun!' and a shot rang out." The policeman was chased into a nearby McDonald's, where staff locked the door but fans tried to smash through the windows. There were, according to Broussard, more "scenes of extreme violence". At some point in the mayhem, a supporter was shot dead and another seriously injured. When order was eventually restored, only nine people were detained, including the plainclothes policeman.

"It's unacceptable, I'm utterly ashamed," said PSG chairman Alain Cayzac today. "The word 'crisis' doesn't suffice. This is the darkest hour in PSG's history."

France recently passed a law to tackle violent football fans and French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said additional measures would be introduced to the national assembly as soon as possible. PSG's tainted reputation is thought to have been one of the main reasons pay-TV channel Canal Plus sold the club last April.

redrus

[mrbojangles]

It's funny how England always gets the bad press for footie violence. In reality it's much worse in many other countries. But that doesn't give the British media anything to slag us off about.

[lampard10]

Why don't the police just shout "surrender"

[redrus]

I have lived in, stayed in and know people from nearly every mainland country in Europe. To my mind, England is well down the violence list from, Germany, Holland, Italy, France, Greece and Turkey at the moment.

As for some of the old E-bloc countries....

England maybe, get more of a bad press as everyone looked to us as the fathers of the game, our reputation off the field now goes before us. Even though most of our top grounds are mostly violence free.

Violence in other countries is now common place, the countries mentioned above have radical problems that dwarf even England's in the seventies.

Is it coincidence that losing it on the streets has now led to this garbage on the field. Do you need to have a top firm to be any good on it....! Absolute twaddle of course it doesn't, it didn't stop me thinking that probably all of the aforementioned teams would beat England at the moment though....!

redrus

[mrbojangles]

it didn't stop me thinking that probably all of the aforementioned teams would beat England at the moment though....!

At what? Fighting or football

[redrus]

it didn't stop me thinking that probably all of the aforementioned teams would beat England at the moment though....!

At what? Fighting or football

LOL both but, at least swap. Put the overpayed behind the pub and the underpayed on the pitch....

redrus

[taxexile]

Attacked black policeman kills football thug

By Peter Allen in Paris

Last Updated: 2:07am GMT 25/11/2006

The growing menace of racism in France was laid bare yesterday after a black policeman shot dead a white football fan as an anti-Semitic gang attacked a Jewish football supporter.

The plain-clothed officer, of Afro-Caribbean descent, had been set upon by a gang of Paris St Germain supporters as he tried to rescue an Israeli fan outside the Parc des Princes late on Thursday.

The attack followed PSG's Uefa Cup 4-2 defeat against the Israeli team Hapoel Tev Aviv, during which hooligans had chanted a tirade of racist and anti-Semitic slogans.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and presidential hopeful noted for his hard-line law and order policies, said the officer had been trying to rescue an Israeli supporter confronted by the 150-strong mob shouting "death to the Jew". The officer was, in turn, attacked by the hooligans, many also shouting slogans including "France for the French". They also called the officer a "filthy black".

The officer fled inside a McDonald's restaurant and tried to disperse his attackers with a tear gas canister.

But when they kept coming at him, the officer opened fire with his pistol. One youth, in his 20s, died instantly while another was seriously injured.

Police officers patrolling Paris's outer suburbs have increasingly become the target of violent attacks, with Muslim and black gangs often the perpetrators.

Far-Right groups have retaliated in kind, with many of them centred on Paris St Germain, a club with a notoriously racist fan base.

Insults are frequently directed at black players, and white gangs often look to fight their black and Arab counterparts during and after games.

Referring to Thursday's tragedy, a police union official, Luc Poignant, said: "The gang was shouting 'filthy Jew' and when they saw our colleague, who comes from the Caribbean, they also yelled 'filthy black, we're going to get you'."Mr Sarkozy yesterday held crisis talks with the French Professional Football League.

Its president, Frederic Thiriez, said: "I am shattered by what happened after the game. We must get to the bottom of this and find ways to ensure this never happens again."

The Paris mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, said: "The seriousness of this event confirms the absolute necessity of fighting racism and anti-Semitism among PSG fans."

Three weeks of rioting which broke out in the suburbs of major cities, including Paris and Lyon, a year ago were blamed on the alienation felt by Islamic and other immigrants youths.

another report covering the same incident , from the daily telegraph.

its a pity the policeman didnt have a machine gun.

Edited November 25, 2006 by taxexile

[redrus]

Ain't that the truth Tax.

I am thankful that we've nearly got rid of that element in England. I'm unfortunately aware and ashamed to say, we may never fully get rid....

redrus