Fans of PSG held a ‘Stop the Genocide in Gaza’ banner’ during the Paris team’s match against Inter Milan [Getty/file photo]
Fans of French football team Paris Saint-Germain made multiple displays of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during their side’s UEFA Champions League final bout against Inter Milan on Saturday.
Hours before the match, hundreds of the club’s supporters marched through the streets the German city of Munich where the match was being held, chanting “We are all children of Gaza” while brandishing Palestinian flags.
The team’s ultras also made their pro-Palestinian stance heard in Paris, where they were also heard chanting “F**k, f**k Israel” and “Freedom for Gaza” ahead of the match.
The PSG fans’ protest came as Israel continued to strike the Palestinian enclave after almost 20 months of war, and where over 54,300 have been killed since 7 October, 2023.
Following a ceasefire collapse in March, Israel began intensifying its military onslaught on Gaza on 18 March, killing 4,117 since, drawing worldwide condemnation, including from Western nations.
Moments before the match started in Munich’s Allianz Arena, the team’s fans held a gigantic banner which read ‘Stop the Genocide in Gaza’, while Palestinian flags and scarves could also be seen being waved in the stadium.
The fans’ loud support for Palestinians in Munich comes as Germany has expressed more support for Israeli throughout the war, defending its right to defend itself while providing military. Following Israel’s resumption of strikes on Gaza, Germany’s newly-named Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the deadly airstrikes were “no longer comprehensible”.
The Paris-based side won the prestigious Champions League title for the first time in their history, after beating their Italian rivals 5-0 in a thrilling match in Munich, capping off a successful season n which they were already crowned French domestic champions and Coupe de France winners.
Among the match’s scorers was Morocco international Achraf Hakimi, who expressed pro-Palestine support throughout his career. In August 2022, during a match for PSG played in Tel Aviv, the right-back was subject to whistles and whistles from football fans at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium.
Throughout the Paris club’s Champions League campaign, ultras have made similar pro-Palestinian chants and lifted banners in a show solidarity with the war-battered enclave.
In a semifinal match against Arsenal in early May, fans held a tifo with the words “Free Palestine”. The banner also featured the Palestinian flag, a silhouette of two men draped in a keffiyeh and combat gear, the Al-Aqsa mosque as well as the Lebanese flag.
Similar tifos were displayed in other matches this season, namely in matches against Atletico Madrid.
