Liverpool fans were unfairly blamed for the chaos which surrounded last season’s Champions League final in Paris to ‘divert attention’ from the failure of the organisers, a French Senate report has found.
The Senate has heard from Reds supporters, along with French police and government officials and UEFA’s events director, Martin Kallen, since the match on May 28, which kicked off more than half an hour late.
France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, initially laid the blame for the delays at the door of ticketless Liverpool supporters for the build-up of crowds at the perimeter of the Stade de France, with police also using tear gas on fans as they waited to gain entry.
Liverpool fans were accused of turning up with fake tickets, but the report confirmed this was not the reason for the alarming scenes
The Champions League final’s chaotic scenes were caused by ‘operational failures’ a report commissioned by the French government found
In the aftermath of the May 28 fixture, between Liverpool and Real Madrid, the French government and police attempted to blame the issues on ’30-40,000’ Reds fans they claimed turned up with counterfeit tickets.
The report said the French football federation (FFF) had identified 2,471 counterfeit tickets, 1,644 of them in the southern sector of the stadium dedicated to Liverpool supporters.
The provisional report of the French Senate findings, published on Wednesday, stated: ‘It is unfair to have wanted to make supporters of the Liverpool team bear the responsibility for the disturbances that occurred, as the Minister of the Interior did to divert attention from the inability of the state to adequately manage the crowds present and to curb the action of several hundred violent and co-ordinated offenders.’
Police chiefs in France defended their decision to use tear gas on innocent fans prior to the clash at the Stade de France
Fans were stuck outside the Stade de France for two hours before…
Source : dailymail
