Chelsea fans go on rampage in Paris before Champions League tie

[Bosonic]

Source: The Guardian

Chelsea fans went on the rampage in a tourist area of central Paris on Wednesday night, making Nazi salutes and smashing up cafes and shops.

Dozens of fans, many of whom had been drinking in the Frog and Rosbif pub on Rue Saint-Denis, were pictured stampeding down a pedestrian street near the celebrated Pompidou Centre and Les Halles shopping centre. Witnesses said several made Nazi salutes and shouted English Defence League chants and racist abuse before attacking Paris Saint-Germain fans. Bottles were thrown at drinkers who were enjoying a mild evening on the terraces of nearby cafes and were forced to flee as the violence spread. Riot police quickly arrived but a large group of fans ran off towards the river Seine.

BFMTV reported that the English hooligans were involved in battles with former PSG ultras in the central Châtelet area, a major underground and district train junction. Two fans were reportedly hurt. Police said the two groups had been "looking for each other" with a view to causing trouble since Tuesday evening but had been kept apart by the authorities.

The match was attended by the new French sports minister, Najat Vallaud‑Belkacem, who was appointed earlier in the day.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/02/chelsea-fans-rampage-paris-champions-league

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[BeyondGeography]

1. Des sales cons

[dembotoz]

2. Hillary has to keep that daughter under control!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh wait......

[penultimate]

6. heh... Something similar came to my mind too.

[iandhr]

3. I went to Hamburg, Germany when I studied aboard.

My hostel had a bunch of British soccer loons (Fulham) who sold me their extra ticket to a match against a Spanish club for the Europa Cup final.

At the stadium it looked like Hamburg dispatched half it's police force to provide security for the game. There weren't any incidents with these guys even though the drinking started 9 hours before the game. I had the good sense not to try and keep up with them.


One of my English companions admitted that main land Europe doesn't like British fans because their hooliganism is at a hole different level.

Paris Saint-Germain is a team that is know for having support on the right. I thought it would be those fans to due the Nazi salute.

[freshwest]

4. The Idiocracy is growing and it ain't pretty. n/t

[starroute]

5. This seems to be a lot more complicated than the article makes clear

I've just been googling to try to understand it, and the clearest account I've found is quoted below. It seems to be a matter of extreme right-wing "hooligans" versus more working-class and multi-ethnic "ultras" -- with the government wanting the whole mess to go away for the sake of tourism. But I can't say the battle lines are altogether clear.

http://www.lookleftonline.org/2014/02/how-psg-lost-its-soul/

An old video clip on YouTube shows the players from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) walking out in front of their home stadium, les Parc des Princes. ... This was the 1990’s, the halcyon days of Parisian fan culture. Supporters groups such as Lutece Falco, Tigris Mystic, and Supras Auteuil competed for visual and vocal dominance in the stands, expressing their devotion, their fanaticism, to a city and club they lived their lives for.

These groups had superseded the less visually impressive and more violent ‘Boulogne Boys’ of the Kop of Boulogne (KOB), at the other end of the stadium. Since the 1980s this terrace had become a meeting place for the Parisian far right and it was a notorious hotbed of racism and fascism, supporters consciously aping the worse elements of English football culture. For many youths from the Parisian suburbs, or Banlieus, the Virage Auteuil was an alternative to this, where predominantly left wing and antiracist groups developed their own form of the ‘Ultra’ culture, which had its roots among football supporters in Italy.

For several seasons these two fan scenes, with their radically different social make-ups, political views, and cultures coexisted in relative peace. Until 2010, when a period of violence between the two groups, which had been instigated by racist attacks by the Boulogne fans on their racially mixed counterparts, led to the death, after a prolonged coma, of ‘Yann L’, a 38 year old Boulogne Hooligan. He had been attacked and badly beaten outside the les Parc des Princes by members of Supras Auteuil.

Following the death of ‘Yann L’ the Club and French authorities conspired to legally ‘dissolve’ all the major PSG fan groups. ... The next step by the club was to introduce random seating – you could no longer choose where you would sit – and the raising of ticket prices. Under the cover of ‘tous PSG’, a heavily marketed program of gentrification of the support, PSG sought, with the help of the Government and media to replace the hard-core supporters with ‘event customers’.

[Blue_Tires]

9. plus this classic:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/europe/29france.html?pagewanted=all

[dipsydoodle]

7. Can't imagine why they'd be looking for each other.

PSG Ultra's and Chelsea Headhunter's Top Boys have probably got each others phone numbers.

[Blue_Tires]

8. Enjoy the loss and the flight home, blues!

The irony is it's PSG who have traditionally had the far-right head-crackers pulling these stunts...

[The Stranger]

10. And all of the brave British servicemen and servicewomen who died fighting the Third Reich

collectively turn over in their graves.

How abhorrent.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Their grandparents generation...

fought the Nazis tooth and nail- England took a severe beating (and kept on fighting) in that war long before we decided to join. Now these jack legs are running around doing the Hitler salute.

on edit: I hope someone doesn't misunderstand my point. I greatly admire the courage that Great Britain showed in that war.

[Chakab]

12. It's more mind-boggling to see the profileration of neo-nazism in Slavic countries.

[AngryAmish]

13. Disco sucks! Disco sucks!

I prefer my sports riots All American.

Did anyone else see the Terminator of Tucson?

[Lars28]

14. Just a bunch of pompous, badly dressed, poverty stricken, sexually repressed football hooligans.

--Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda.

[VWolf]

16. Oh, how I do love that line!

Chelsea's Champions League season might just have ended last night.

Guess the special one isn't so special after all - he got the tactics all wrong.

[Botany]

15. But because no guns were involved it looks like nobody got killed

n/t

[Beacool]

17. I guess British hooligans like to get thrown out of every country they visit.

They were shown the door in France a few years ago during the World Cup. I think that they are the equivalent of the rednecks here, their racism and xenophobia pops up the minute they leave Britain. They should do the rest of the world a favor and stay home.

Let's see how they behave in Rio. If they start with their racist crap, they will have a lot more to worry about than being thrown out of the country.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

18. Doubt it.

Brazil holds the record for most football violence related deaths.

And there are plenty of right wing ultra groups in Brazil. After all it's where the nazis ran off to after the war.

[Beacool]

19. My point is that if they start acting up in Brazil, they will get in real trouble.

I meant with the locals, not with the authorities. Your post just proved my point. They start their usual crap with the lcoals and they may end up in a hospital or worse.

[tavernier]

20. We flew out of Paris on Tuesday

Apparently just in time.

Didn't need my vacation ruined by a pack of empty headed sports trolls. Glad they stayed under the bridge until I left.

Also, the photo looks like the smog has returned. It was quite lovely and clear over the weekend, so I feel better about having to leave. Now if only the jet lag would clear.

[truebrit71]

21. As a Brit and a Chelsea fan I hope they hang them all...

Fucking embarrassment to the team and the country...