Two fans dead, police officer in coma after Champions League celebrations

9 News

01-06-2025

Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Two fans died have died and a police officer is in a coma after mass nationwide celebrations for Paris Saint-Germain's historic Champions League victory, French authorities say. The Eiffel Tower glowed in team colours, and fans partied through the night in celebrations that were largely peaceful but degenerated into violence in some areas. Football fans in Paris have clashed with police after the Champion's Cup final. (9News) It was Paris Saint-Germain's first premiership win in the competition. (9News) Earlier on Saturday night in Munich, police lined up in front of the PSG end of the stadium at the final whistle but struggled to contain the fans for several minutes when they came down from the stands following the trophy presentation. They did eventually manage to force them back into the stands, and PSG players had already headed back to the locker room, appearing to cut short celebrations in front of their supporters. Players eventually made their way back to the field with the trophy after order was restored. A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the western city of Dax during a PSG street party after Saturday night's final in Munich, the national police service said. A man in his 20s was killed in Paris when his scooter was hit by a car during PSG celebrations, the interior minister's office said. The circumstances of both are being investigated. A police officer was hit accidentally by fireworks at a PSG gathering in Coutances in north-west France and placed in an artificial coma because of grave eye injuries, the national police service said. Supporters celebrate a PSG goal outside a cafe during the the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan, on Saturday, May 31, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard) A total of 192 people were injured around the capital, four of them seriously, the Paris police chief said on Sunday. The team was expected to return to a big victory parade on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday afternoon, with up to 110,000 people allowed along the iconic, tree-lined avenue to see the victorious players. Later, the team will join fans packed into PSG's home stadium, the Parc des Princes, on the city's western edge, for a concert and light show and official presentation of the Champions League trophy. A wide swathe of central Paris was closed to traffic for the exceptional day. The security measures are also impacting the French Open unfolding nearby. Fireworks explode on the Champs-Elysees avenue after the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan, on Sunday, June 1, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard) Thousands of police are being deployed to keep order, and will employ similar tactics as they did Saturday night, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told reporters. AP reporters saw tear gas used near the stadium and and water cannons used near the Arc de Triomphe to disperse rowdy crowds. In addition to the injuries and arrests, Nunez said four stores were looted. Firefighters were so busy extinguishing garbage can fires in the middle of celebrations and dealing with other emergencies that the fire hotline was saturated. By 2am on Sunday (10am AEST), a total of 294 arrests had been made, including 30 people who broke into a shoe shop on the Champs-Élysées. Two cars were set alight close to Parc des Princes, police added. At the Place de la Bastille, there were joyous scenes as fans climbed onto the base of the famous column, singing, dancing and letting off flares, while those around joined in. Footage showed fireworks and flares set off outside the stadium. (9News) At one point, motorbikes loudly revved their engines and the crowd cheered as they did laps around the column. There were no police nearby and, by 1am, the atmosphere was upbeat with no tensions and plenty of singing. Nunez blamed the scattered troubles on "thousands of people who came to commit acts of violence" instead of watching the match. He noted similar unrest on the sidelines of prior celebrations in the capital, such as after France's World Cup win in 2018. riot
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