France arrests hundreds of rioters nationwide as PSG win Champions League

Police in France have detained more than 280 people in Paris after violent clashes erupted when thousands poured onto the streets after Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the Champions League final.

About 22,000 police were deployed across France for the game on Saturday, including 8,000 in Paris, after unrest marred PSG’s win in the competition last year. Paris tram lines were halted, several metro stations shut and bus traffic halted in places in a bid to minimise disturbances.

According to the French Ministry of the Interior, 416 people were detained nationwide, including 283 who were apprehended in Paris. It was not immediately clear how many of these individuals were remanded in custody to face further investigation.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said seven officers were wounded and called the unrest “absolutely unacceptable”.

Six vehicles and two businesses were damaged.

A group of supporters also stormed the Paris ring road, the Boulevard Peripherique, bringing traffic to a halt for a time and setting off flares.

As fans celebrated the dramatic penalty shootout victory in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, about 20,000 people converged on Paris’s Champs-Elysees avenue, police said.

Shops boarded up their windows before the match to avoid a repeat of disturbances last year when youths ransacked shops on the Champs-Elysees and other streets. Hundreds of people were arrested.

Two dozen flares and about 100 fireworks were seized on Saturday while a bus shelter was destroyed near the Champs-Elysees.

The match was played on a hectic evening in Paris with singer Aya Nakamura performing at the Stade de France national stadium, rapper Damso at the La Defense Arena and the French Open tennis tournament in full swing.

Police said a bakery and a restaurant were damaged near PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium, where tens of thousands of people had gathered inside to watch the match. Another 4,000 to 5,000 people loitered outside with projectiles that were thrown at officers.

About 150 people “attempted to enter through one of the gates” at the stadium, but police pushed them back, a police spokesperson said.

Some also tried to erect a barricade with rental bikes, which was cleared by police.

Clashes broke out between police and supporters near the stadium, and officers responded with tear gas when fireworks were thrown at them.

‘Only in France’

The scenes angered the French far right. Three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen wrote on X that “only in France does a football club’s victory spark riots.”

“Only in France does everyone feel compelled to lock themselves in their homes on the evening of a victory to avoid being confronted with violence,” she added.

Nunez said there was a “very robust, very solid system in place” to curb violence.

“Our responsibility is to guarantee everyone a festive celebration that is calm and fully secure,” a police spokesperson said.

PSG’s players will take part in a parade on Sunday afternoon on the Champ de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower in front of an expected crowd of 100,000 people before they are received by President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.