VICTORY PARADE
The PSG team were to hold a victory parade on the Champs-Élysées on Sunday, with tens of thousands of supporters expected to gather to catch a glimpse of their returning heroes.
Overnight, AFP journalists saw police on the famed thoroughfare using a water cannon to stop a crowd reaching the Arc de Triomphe, which sits at the top of the Champs-Élysées.
Police, in a statement, said “troublemakers” clashed with officers “by throwing large fireworks and other objects”. One policeman was in an induced coma after being hit in the eye by a firework in the Normandy region, prosecutors said.
Elsewhere, police said a car careered into fans celebrating PSG’s win in Grenoble in southeastern France, leaving four people injured, two of them seriously. All of those hurt were from the same family, police said.
The driver handed himself in to the police and was placed under arrest. A source close to the investigation said it was believed the driver had not acted intentionally. The public prosecutor’s office said the driver had tested negative for alcohol and drugs.
The majority of fans celebrated peacefully, but police in Paris said scuffles broke out near the Champs-Élysées avenue, and around PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium, where 48,000 had watched the match on giant screens.
Most of those arrested in the capital were suspected of illegally possessing fireworks and causing disorder, police said.
The PSG victory meant the club won the biggest prize in European club football for the first time in their history.
One 20-year-old PSG supporter, Clement, said: “It’s so good and so deserved! We have a song that talks about our struggles and it hasn’t always been easy.”
“But we got our faith back this year with a team without stars. They’re 11 guys who play for each other.”
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he would host the victorious players on Sunday to congratulate them.
In a message on X, Macron hailed a “day of glory for PSG”.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hailed it as a “historic” win.
A total of 11.5 million people tuned in across France to watch the match, according to figures given by the Mediametrie audience-measurement company and one of the broadcasters, Canal+.
Source: CNA
