rench authorities arrested around 40 people after the game in connection with the violence [Getty]
Israeli football fans attacked French supporters at the Stade de France in Paris on Thursday as their teams met for a Nations League football game, according to witnesses.
The attack, which took place in the stands at around the tenth minute of play, occurred despite security measures being stepped up following the rampage by Israeli football fans in Amsterdam last week which triggered violence in the city.
Footage posted to social media showed France fans leaving their seats to move away from the violence.
“France supporters retreated in the face of an attack by several dozen Israeli supporters,” one attendee, named as Etienne, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying.
A video shot from a different angle appears to show men wearing masks, balaclavas and some with Israeli flags rampaging through the stands and punching spectators.
An Israeli fan who later spoke to reporters was seen in the stands wearing an Israeli army tee shirt. Another Israel supporter was quoted by media outlets as saying he had recently returned from participating in Israel’s war on Lebanon.
Police and stadium security later attempted to break up the scuffle, with one fan sharing footage online of them attempting to show police a video purportedly showing the Israeli fans starting the altercation.
French authorities arrested around 40 people after the game in connection with the violence, however did not release any details about the suspects.
Just 16,611 people watched the game in the 80,000-capacity stadium, the lowest attendance for a match involving the French men’s national team since the stadium was built in the late 1990s.
The match ended in a goalless draw but the point earned was enough for France to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Nations League.
In Amsterdam last week, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans burned a Palestinian flag, attacked a taxi and chanted racist, anti-Arab slogans, according to city authorities.
Later, some of the fans were pursued by youths on scooters and beaten after a Europa League match against Ajax.
Dutch officials, including Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders, blamed the violence on “Muslims” and described the scuffles s “antisemitism”, despite witnesses saying that the fighting was largely instigated by the visiting Israelis.
