French police have detained 780 people involved in violent clashes in Paris and other French cities that erupted on Saturday night after Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal to win the Champions League title.
The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said 57 officers were wounded, with most suffering minor injuries, as football fans set off fires and vandalised shops. One small group even tried to storm a Paris police station.
At a news conference on Sunday he said the situation had largely been brought under control.
“Most of the celebrations took place peacefully” across the French capital, he said, noting most incidents happened in the Champs-Élysées neighbourhood and close to the Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris where fans had gathered to watch the match.
Police also intervened five times overnight to prevent people from blocking traffic on the main ring road around Paris, he said.
Nuñez said incidents took place in about 15 cities in France, describing “one to two” shops vandalised in those other than Paris. He said 780 people were detained in all, with 480 in the Paris area alone.
The Paris prosecutors’ office said 277 people had been formally placed in police custody, including 82 minors, for alleged offences. Most were for assaulting police officers while other allegations included theft, vandalism and disturbing public order.
One serious accident involved a driver losing control of a car that rammed into a restaurant’s terrace, leaving two people wounded including one seriously, Nuñez said.
However, Nuñez said planned celebrations for the team’s win on Sunday afternoon at the Champ de Mars, near the Eiffel Tower, would go ahead as scheduled. The PSG team will then be hosted by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at the Élysée Palace.
Footage aired on the news channel BFM showed brief skirmishes around PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris, where more than 40,000 people watched the club win its second consecutive title on penalties at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on giant screens.
By 11pm (10pm UK time), police had already made more than 130 arrests, Paris police said.
Some PSG fans aimed fireworks at police officers who responded with teargas during the celebrations, according to reports in France, while some were seen wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “FU*K ARSENAL 2026” as they stood next to burning Lime bikes on the city’s streets.
Smoke rose from several areas during the clashes. Police were seen sprinting after groups of fans with riot gear and stamping out flares discarded on the road.
France had deployed 22,000 police to uphold order in the capital. Last year, two people died and close to 200 were injured after PSG won the Champions League for the first time by beating Inter Milan.
The Champs-Élysées, which authorities had partly cordoned off, was filling with mostly peaceful PSG fans, TV footage showed. Police estimated the crowd size at 20,000. Some supporters let off fireworks and lit flares.
The Paris police prefecture said smaller groups caused disturbances in various locations, with some vandalising shops and setting fires. Cars were also set ablaze. Those who attempted to storm a police station in the upmarket 8th arrondissement neighbourhood were dispersed, police said.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
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