Not sure why I should bother writing this up, but I will,
simply as I can't be arsed responding to the many ignorant and hateful
comments that will be made online. But for those people who are unsure of what
went on, read away and feel free to share away.
First
up some pointers. Have seen articles in the Guardian and the Mail,
both of which tell a story of the chaos and disorganisation of the
entry, of heavy handed violent reactionary policing as events unfolded.
Twitter is also awash with first hand experience and videos of fans and
their experiences including complaints post match too.
Will try to stick to my own experiences and those I spoke to and/or identify the source of any comments.
First
up Paris. Me and my mates avoided the fanzone for a couple of
reasons. We knew it would be crowded, very crowded. Myself and a
couple of fellow survivors had all been at Hillsborough, so none of us
like crowded
environments. Far better to simply enjoy the sunshine, beer and French
food in Montmatre where we are all staying.
We
all had match tickets and spent the afternoon slowly downing a few
beers. Between us we had substantial knowledge/experience of the Stade, of Paris
(CRS) policing and crucially one of our number had earlier spoken to a
French politician and club official so we knew the level of
policing, match timings and expected travel problems. All in there were
good reasons to head to the ground early, and so we arranged an Uber to
take us the 3 miles to the stadium.
An
Uber meant we would avoid the rammed Metro and we could get 5 traveling into the
cab. We ordered one at 6.30pm which meant an eta of around 7pm at the Stade.
Plenty of time to manage the ticket and security checks before making
our way to our seats.
Things
started to feel tense as the traffic got heavy around a mile or so from
the ground. Sirened police vans fought through the traffic and the odd
VIP was queue jumped but the rest of us plebs in cars/taxis hit gridlock. Word came
through the LFC coach was stuck/late and we got to within 500m of the
ground around 7.45pm. People were jumping out of cabs and walking but
it was clear pedestrians were not welcome on what was a throughway.
Police officers made people climb over barrier to join a parallel road
so as to prevent them walking on the road.
Eventually
we got next to the stadium and witnessed the chaos of fans at a bottle
neck up to the ground. There was plenty of frustration on display,
riot police and very little evidence of people moving. From press
reports I believe the ground was as this stage "locked down" and that
tallies with what we saw.
Knowing
that our gates were the opposite end of the stadium and that noone was
entering here, we opted to walk around to the next access area. As we
walked round riot police barged their way through. Some police were climbing a
fence to exit the ground and join them and I offered a hand to one who
had a big drop. He refused, landed on his arse and carried on. Sad
that football fans are seen so poorly that a genuine offer was refused,
but that's his call.
So
I'd guess around 8pm we make it to the next entry point. At this point
I see maybe a dozen local french youth scaling fences. Some are
caught, some are not.
So
we get to the entry point and are met with a frustrated crowd.
Clearly there are a number of ticketless locals trying to bunk in and no
doubt a pick pocket or two. I heard a few fans later say they felt
hands going for wallets etc. Saint Denis is in a very deprived part of
Paris and it seems some of the locals were likely using the opportunity
for petty crime.
Two
riot vans are parked and the fans are funneled through to a ticket
check and then a bag search. They were set up to check maybe 4 people
at a time. They did this and progress was slow, very slow. The bottle
neck meant a level of crushing that was always going to be a trigger for
anyone who had experienced the crushes at Hillsborough.
A couple of times I thought of leaving but it wasn't at the point of
panic. And after maybe 15 minutes I couldn't really have left anyway.
Twice a "mobile" of around 20 riot police came and fought their way
through the crowd. A few words were exchanged but the officers were
following orders and tried not to be overly aggressive. I think the
last police made a line say 10 across and 2 deep and I soon found
myself pushed up again a riot shield.
It was 8.30pm and my only concern was we had lost Ade. I wondered if he had turned away but I heard later he got in, albeit shaken up like everyone else. I made my way round to Gate A (as per my ticket) and passed half a dozen gates with barriers and fans queuing but no one seemed to be getting though. I did see a couple more locals jumping fences, probably with a 75% success rate.
When I made it to Gate A I was met with a much less crowded/dangerous queue albeit one that wasn't moving. The people I spoke to were exasperated and some were leaving, scared at what was developing. Ten mins before I got there some fans (as reported to me as French) had jumped a fence and the police had responded with tear gas. Lots of people had sore eyes, but I cant say if it was tear gas or pepper spray. But either way, the police had used one or the other and on fans who were simply waiting to get through a gate.
Everyone seemed to have tickets and when someone suggested climbimg the fence pretty much everyone was like "Why? We have a ticket?" A number of people had been directed from other gates but most were Gate A holders. Word came through of a delay to kickoff as the clock went passed 9pm, local kick off time.
After a few more minutes the queue did start to move but word came that Gate C was clear so I tried that and sure enough was met by 4 moving queues instead of one and I soon got close to the entry point. I first saw a local arguing (his ticket was fake) and they were close to fighting, I grabbed him by shoulders and through him away and a fellow fan went through.
I took my seat at 9.15 and breathed a large sigh of relief. There was no overcrowding in the seats but there were people stood in the aisles. That could have been for a number of reasons, people wanting to stand with mates, people who had been sold fake tickets or people bunking in. Ref the later it is fair to say the ones I witnessed climbing fences were all local youths.
After the game there were reports of people being tear gassed on approaching the station. I think what actually happened was some local youths dropped some pyro into the crowds rather than the police tear gassing anyone. I have been teargassed twice previously and the smell was of pyro. Unpleasant for sure but not the "police attacks" I read about, not where I was. The train station was well organised. Onto the second train and ferried back to the Gare de nord safely and quickly.
A quick note on how it compared to France 98. From memory the organisation was far better then with a wider "exclusion zone" and more checks. I quess this match, like Wembley final for the Euros, attracted a lot more chancers but that is not to excuse the disorganisation and police responses. Serious questions need to be asked and maybe paper tickets need to go for big matches? The initial response from Uefa that fans were late is a downright lie, quickly debunked.
The now reported issues of fake tickets were clearly made worse by some ticketless fans (local from what I saw) and some reactionary and violent police responses. Sadly those
After
I landed on the riot shield I
apologised and said '"pardon" worried I might get a baton and unable to
lift my arms to defend myself. I was basically bounced along 3 riot
shields to a gap where they were letting people through. I have to say
that after Hillsborough that was definitely the least comfortable I have
been at a match in 33 years. On a number of times people shouted at
others to get
back and generally they did. I heard later that that "cordon" collapsed
and fans were just let in but I can't verify that. I had my ticket
checked twice, was waved through the bag check and made my way onto the
concourse, naively thinking all would be good now.
It was 8.30pm and my only concern was we had lost Ade. I wondered if he had turned away but I heard later he got in, albeit shaken up like everyone else. I made my way round to Gate A (as per my ticket) and passed half a dozen gates with barriers and fans queuing but no one seemed to be getting though. I did see a couple more locals jumping fences, probably with a 75% success rate.
When I made it to Gate A I was met with a much less crowded/dangerous queue albeit one that wasn't moving. The people I spoke to were exasperated and some were leaving, scared at what was developing. Ten mins before I got there some fans (as reported to me as French) had jumped a fence and the police had responded with tear gas. Lots of people had sore eyes, but I cant say if it was tear gas or pepper spray. But either way, the police had used one or the other and on fans who were simply waiting to get through a gate.
Everyone seemed to have tickets and when someone suggested climbimg the fence pretty much everyone was like "Why? We have a ticket?" A number of people had been directed from other gates but most were Gate A holders. Word came through of a delay to kickoff as the clock went passed 9pm, local kick off time.
After a few more minutes the queue did start to move but word came that Gate C was clear so I tried that and sure enough was met by 4 moving queues instead of one and I soon got close to the entry point. I first saw a local arguing (his ticket was fake) and they were close to fighting, I grabbed him by shoulders and through him away and a fellow fan went through.
I took my seat at 9.15 and breathed a large sigh of relief. There was no overcrowding in the seats but there were people stood in the aisles. That could have been for a number of reasons, people wanting to stand with mates, people who had been sold fake tickets or people bunking in. Ref the later it is fair to say the ones I witnessed climbing fences were all local youths.
After the game there were reports of people being tear gassed on approaching the station. I think what actually happened was some local youths dropped some pyro into the crowds rather than the police tear gassing anyone. I have been teargassed twice previously and the smell was of pyro. Unpleasant for sure but not the "police attacks" I read about, not where I was. The train station was well organised. Onto the second train and ferried back to the Gare de nord safely and quickly.
A quick note on how it compared to France 98. From memory the organisation was far better then with a wider "exclusion zone" and more checks. I quess this match, like Wembley final for the Euros, attracted a lot more chancers but that is not to excuse the disorganisation and police responses. Serious questions need to be asked and maybe paper tickets need to go for big matches? The initial response from Uefa that fans were late is a downright lie, quickly debunked.
The now reported issues of fake tickets were clearly made worse by some ticketless fans (local from what I saw) and some reactionary and violent police responses. Sadly those
What strikes me is those who broke in seemed to get away with it whilst the police response was to tear gas and spray those with tickets. Press reports of difficulties getting in for dignitaries, players friends and families expose the lies of Uefa. Worse was a report of a journo being made to wipe phone footage he took of some of the chaos. Gladly initial reports seem to be hitting the spot, namely thousands of innocent fans were put in a dangerous position. And those responsible for keeping them safe (Uefa and the French police) failed miserably to do that.
And I have seen
up close the result of disorganisation and violent reactionary policing at
Hillsborough. It should never be accepted to target innocent fans
because of the behaviour of a minority. Organise the fan entry points safely rather
than rely on police violence if/when problems occur.