A heavy police presence but few visiting fans are expected when France hosts Israel in Nations League soccer on Thursday, a week after violence erupted in Amsterdam in connection with an Israeli team’s visit.
French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police officers and security staff will be deployed around the Stade de France, with another 1,500 police on public transit.
Paris authorities are on high alert following the violence in Amsterdam before and after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Dutch authorities say fans from both sides were involved in the unrest. The assaults on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as antisemitic.
“What we learned from Amsterdam is that we need to be present in the public space, including far away from the stadium” and in public transit before and after the match, Nuñez said Thursday on French news broadcaster France Info.
Three months after hosting the Olympics closing ceremony, the atmosphere has gone from festive to fearful, and the national stadium was expected to be three-quarters empty for the match. French President Emmanuel Macron and French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau will be present.
Former French presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy are also to attend.
“We will not give in to antisemitism, anywhere. And violence, including in the French Republic, will never prevail, nor will intimidation,” Macron told BFM TV channel.
Only 20,000 of 80,000 tickets have been sold, with about 150 supporters of the Israeli team reportedly attending, escorted by police.
“We’ve tried to prepare for this match as normally as possible. But obviously none of us within the team can be insensitive to such a heavy context,” France coach Didier Deschamps said Wednesday. “It impacts the amount of supporters present tomorrow and everything that goes with it.”
Amsterdam banned demonstrations for three days beginning Friday while giving police emergency stop-and-search powers after overnight attacks on Israeli soccer supporters. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were ‘attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks’ by what she described as ‘antisemitic hit-and-run squads.’
The away match against Israel on Oct. 10 — which France won 4-1 — was played in Budapest, Hungary’s capital.
“These are situations the players are not accustomed to,” Deschamps said. “But we have to adapt.”
The low number of visiting fans comes after Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sports and cultural events, specifically the match in Paris.
Retailleau told French news channel TF1 on Tuesday that no specific threats were identified, but “zero risk does not exist.” Therefore, he said, exceptional measures are in place “before the match, during the match and after the match.”
The elite tactical unit of the French National Police, known as RAID, will be in the stadium, and some police officers will be in plain clothes mingling with fans. There will also be heavy surveillance within Paris, including at Jewish places of worship and schools.
Repeat of violence ‘out of the question,’ minister says
“It is out of the question that we take the risk of seeing a repeat of the dramatic events, of the manhunt, that we saw in Amsterdam,” Retailleau said, adding that postponing or moving the game elsewhere was ruled out.
“France does not submit, and the France-Israel match will take place where it’s supposed to,” he said.
In Amsterdam, a number of Maccabi fans attacked a cab and chanted anti-Arab slogans, while some men carried out “hit and run” attacks on people they thought were Jews, according to Mayor Femke Halsema.
After the match, parts of a large group of Maccabi supporters armed with sticks ran around “destroying things,” a 12-page report on the violence issued by Amsterdam authorities said.
There were also “rioters, moving in small groups, by foot, scooter or car, quickly attacking Maccabi fans before disappearing,” it said.
Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday night against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel.
The game in Saint-Denis, the suburb north of Paris, is scheduled to kick off at 8:45 p.m. local time.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof has condemned violent attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, Thursday night. Video shows some Israelis ripping down a Palestinian flag and chanting anti-Arab slogans the day before, suggesting tensions had been simmering.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration is organized at a Saint-Denis plaza at 6 p.m. local time to protest the match.
Nine years ago, Stade de France was one of several locations during the Nov. 13 terror attacks in which 130 people died. France was playing Germany that night when two explosions occurred outside the stadium.
Deschamps, Germany coach Joachim Löw and all of the players stayed together in the locker rooms for hours until it was safe to leave.
“It’s a sad date for us given what happened in 2015,” Deschamps said.
