As reported by the French News Agency, the football show hosted by Paris on May 28 was marred by scenes of chaos as Liverpool fans tried to enter the stadium for the match against Real Madrid, raising questions about the French capital's ability to host the 2024 Olympics.
"It's obviously a failure," Didier Lalemen told a committee investigating the fiasco in the French Senate. "It was a failure because people were pushed and attacked. It's a failure because the image of the country was undermined."
He said he "regretted" approving the use of tear gas to remove fans from the stadium before the match, but added that "there was no other way" to relieve the growing pressure at the gates.
"We needed to make people come back," Lalemen explained. "We asked people to come back, then we used tear gas is the only way we know to push a crowd back, apart from using batons."
He encouraged fans from Liverpool and Real Madrid to file complaints if they were victims of forged tickets or crime on the street outside the stadium "so we can find the culprits and charge them."
Lalemen was also asked about controversial evidence given by Interior Minister Geral Darmannan, who blamed the stadium unrest and match delays on the presence of 30-40,000 fans without tickets or with fake tickets.
The police chief said he was responsible for the number (of fans) and based it on figures provided by Parisian transporters and "feedback" from police officers on the scene.
[BR][BR]"Maybe I made a mistake with the number I gave the minister," he said. "I never claimed it was completely accurate."
He acknowledged that there were not 30-40,000 "at the gates of the stadium" but claimed many thousands were in the area.
According to the agency, these claims have angered Liverpool supporters as well as senior British politicians, who have accused France of unfairly trying to deflect blame away from the police.
The mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotherham, is due to give evidence to the Senate committee later on Thursday.
Source: Cyprus Times
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