Paris, France – Thousands of extra police are being deployed in and around Paris ahead of Thursday’s France-Israel soccer match, a week after violence erupted on the streets of Amsterdam.
Pro-Palestinian groups are urging France not to host an Israeli sports team while it is waging wars and deadly attacks in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, claiming similar measures have been taken against Russia over its massive invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, few people snapped up tickets for the match at the Stade de France, north of Paris, leading some to question the need for a large-scale police operation.
Officials say security will be heavily beefed up at the match. Police officers will be deployed at the Stade de France and on public transport networks.
The measures have been stepped up in part to prevent clashes like the one that broke out in Amsterdam, the Dutch capital, before and after a soccer match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax of the Netherlands.
Leopold Lambert, an editor and architect in the French capital, said: «The atmosphere in Paris, at least for people who have Palestine and football in mind, is a desire for strong solidarity action, which will probably have to take place outside the stadium given the huge police apparatus. «
Pro-Palestinian protesters plan to gather in front of Saint-Denis City Hall, about a 20-minute walk from the stadium, on Thursday evening to voice their opposition to the match.
«Israel’s involvement in sports, its involvement in everything else, is what they want us to stop talking about Gaza or genocide,» Nadim Smair, a Jordanian Palestinian restaurateur and event producer in Paris, told Al Jazeera.
«Europe should censor Israeli athletes»
French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Michel Barnier plan to attend Thursday’s match as «a message of brotherhood and solidarity following the intolerable acts of anti-Semitism that followed the match in Amsterdam this week,» Macron’s office said in a statement sent to AFP.
His words echoed the sentiments of many Western leaders after the match in the Netherlands, calling the chaos in the Netherlands anti-Semitic while appearing to downplay any damage caused by Israeli soccer fans.
On the eve of the match in Amsterdam, Israeli fans burned a Palestinian flag and destroyed a taxi. On the way to the match, videos showed Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans. After the soccer match, people on scooters attacked Israeli fans and others threw fireworks at them. Five Israelis were hospitalized, and 20 to 30 were slightly injured.
Other prominent political figures are also planning to watch the match, including former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and former Senate president Gerard Larcher.
«We all know what Macron’s position is [on Israel]in a sense, even though they move back and forth where they stand,” Smair said. «To be honest, the game that is happening in France and all the news around it is distracting from the reality in Gaza.»
Lambert said that while Macron has made some «performative moves» regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, «none of those moves would lead us to think that he doesn’t fully support the genocidal siege. And going to the stadium just shows that even more.» «
Sabine Agostini, a French-Lebanese cheerleader for the French national football team, believes the match should be cancelled.
«First, for political reasons: Europe has censored Russian athletes and should do the same with Israeli athletes. And also for security reasons. «Football and sports in general convey positive values, which is not the case for this match,» she told Al Jazeera.
It’s a shame that politics interferes with sports
Of the 80,000 available seats at the Stade de France, only 20,000 tickets had been sold at the time of publication – the lowest attendance since the stadium opened.
The previous worst attendance was 37,000 for a French team match against New Zealand in June 2003.
Rodrigue Flahaut-Prevot, a Paris lawyer who holds season tickets to the Parc des Princes and Stade Velodrome in Marseille, said politics and sport must remain separate.
“I am very much in favor of respecting the law and today, like all citizens, I deplore the fact that one community is attacking another. Above all, I find it sad that this issue has become politicized,» said Flahaut-Prevotova. «In France, secularism means keeping religion out of the public sphere…political debate should be the same, excluded from sports.»
The violence in Amsterdam was the exception rather than the norm for football fans, he believed.
«If we don’t incite hatred between communities, I think people can live completely peacefully, especially in stadiums. Because it’s just a sport. And it’s a shame that politics interferes with sports.»
According to Paris police prefect Laurent Nunez, 4,000 police are expected to be mobilized for the match between France and Israel, compared to the usual 1,200-1,300 when the stadium is sold out.
Israeli authorities advised fans against attending the game in France and warned Israelis abroad against wearing recognizable Israeli or Jewish symbols.
MPs from the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party, which sympathizes with the suffering of Palestinians, joined the calls for a boycott.
«This game is being actively boycotted and many of us, despite our love of football, will not be watching it,» Lambert said.
Global opposition to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is increasingly visible at football events.
Last week, Paris Saint-Germain fans unfurled a «Free Palestine» banner during a Champions League match at the Parc des Princes stadium. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau criticized the move, saying the banner «has no place in the stadium».
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