Despite France having taken heightened security measures in and outside of Paris yesterday, fistfights broke outin the stands of the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis during Thursday’s Nations League football game between France and Israel.
French authorities had previously declared the match “high-risk,” following Israel’s “Maccabi Tel-Aviv” football team supporters’ violent rampage in Amsterdam, attacking the Netherlands’ “Ajax Amsterdam” fans and vandalizing houses flying Palestinian flags last week.
Only ten minutes after the game began at 8:45 pm, men with Israeli flags draped over their backs began arguing with what appeared to be French fans in the upper stands of the Stade de France.
Footage shows Israel’s supporters throwing punches at French fans, disrupting the match and forcing security to break up the brawl. The exact cause of the altercation was not clear.
Tensions were high even before the kick-off when French fans booed Israel’s national anthem during the opening ceremony and jeered every time an Israeli player got the ball.
The match finished in a 0-0 draw with no further incidents reported in the Stade de France or in Paris.