PARIS (AP) – Dozens of disgruntled Paris Saint-Germain enthusiasts clashed Sunday with French police on the Champs-Elysées after their team lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in Lisbon.
Hundreds of other enthusiasts moved away from the famous Avenue de Paris after the 1-0 defeat, which ended PSG’s bid to sign Marseille as the only French club to win Europe’s elite football competition.
Near the Champs-Elysées, a dozen police officers rushed into a bar to aggressively evict people, as some were not wearing masks or kept social distance amid concerns about the coronavirus.
In western Paris, there were also incidents in which the insurrection police used tear fuel to disperse the enthusiastics accumulated outside the club’s stadium.
The PSG broadcast the setting on two giant screens in its stadium of the Parc des Princes, with 5000 enthusiasts allowed inside, according to the phytoes allowed for football in France.
But a few minutes before the start, at nine o’clock at night. Local time, many enthusiasts were still queuing and frustrations temporarily intensified, as they may only see the most important game in their club’s history.
PSG sought to end decades of jubilation with Marseille’s bitter rival, still the French club that won the festival in 1993.
Despite the large number of Qatari QSI investors, who added more than $500 million spent on Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Angel Di Maria, the PSG never won the competition.
The defeat was met with mass celebrations in Marseille, where enthusiasts cheered and introduced flares and fireworks.
Additional security measures had been put in place on Sunday night with 3,000 police deployed on the Champs-Elysées, as well as to prevent large numbers of people from gathering outdoors in the Parc des Princes.
Some 2000 masks have been manufactured for enthusiasts who arrive without them at the Champs-Elysées. Bars and cafes were monitored to ensure that others complied with virus prevention measures, and that others faced a fine for not wearing a mask.
To reduce the numbers, 17 metro and commuter exercise stations were closed at night and 3 front points of the Paris ring road were closed. The street reserved only for pedestrians from the beginning of the adjustment without legal vehicles.
The measures were put in place through Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, after chaotic scenes on Tuesday, when thousands of enthusiasts rushed to the Champs-Elysées to celebrate the PSG’s arrival at maximum expression, many without masking and without social estrangement. Police arrested 36 other people Tuesday after teams of enthusiasts at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe dispersed in scattered violence and storefronts were shattered.
The Interior Ministry encouraged others to watch the game at home instead of fainting.
“Make the most of this quiet brain and watch the game from your couch,” the ministry said. “Protect yourself, shield the others. Everybody, PSG.”
The message accompanied by an image of feet sitting at a table in front of a screen, accompanied by the words: “To make sure you have a smart seat, watch the game at home!”
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