The French Interior Minister estimated on Monday that "without the decisions taken by the police and the prefect, there would have been deaths" on Saturday evening during the Champions League final at the Stade de France.
The French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, denounced on Monday a “massive, industrial and organized fraud of counterfeit tickets” during the Champions League final enamelled with numerous incidents on Saturday evening around the Stade de France. “30,000 to 40,000 English supporters found themselves at the Stade de France, either without tickets or with counterfeit tickets,” added the Minister of the Interior to the press after an interministerial meeting organized on these malfunctions.
“What has been observed is massive, industrial and organized fraud, counterfeit banknotes,” denounced the minister. “70%” of the paper tickets presented for pre-filtering were “false”, he specified and, “once this pre-filtering had passed, more than 15%” were fake. At 9 p.m., the scheduled time for the finally delayed kick-off of the match between Liverpool and Real Madrid, “97% of Spanish supporters were present in their stands” against “only 50% of British supporters”, said again. the minister of the Interior.
A compensation"
Mr. Darmanin defended the system put in place by the Paris police headquarters to secure the final. "To have been there, without the decisions taken by the police and the prefect, there would have been deaths", he said, giving "all his support" to the prefect Didier Lallement, whose methods of maintaining the order are the subject of much criticism. The Minister also indicated that “2,700 tickets” had not been activated out of the 79,000 sold. He said he was "sorry" for the spectators with tickets who were unable to attend the match and expressed his "regrets" for the spectators who suffered from the use of tear gas used by the police. .
The Minister of Sports added that there would be "compensation" for the holders of these tickets.