Three radical measures to secure the France-Israel match, and a firm instruction from the Hebrew State

The football match organized this Thursday evening at the Stade de France raises fears of significant overflows. Very strong measures have been taken.

The match is maintained, but the tension is still palpable. The football match between France and Israel will take place at the Stade de France, this evening, Thursday, November 14, starting at 8:45 p.m. A decision endorsed by the Minister of the Interior, despite fears of possible anti-Semitic violence and requests for cancellations made by certain politicians, including elected officials from La France Insoumise. Tensions revived by the violence that occurred in Amsterdam last Thursday after a match between Maccabi Tel-Avi and Ajax.

The French and Israeli teams will therefore play their Nations League match in front of spectators present in the stands. But the match will be marked by an ultra-reinforced presence of law enforcement: there will be 4,000 police officers and gendarmes deployed around the Stade de France and in Paris. In detail, 2,500 people will secure the stadium grounds, aided by the presence of 1,600 stewards mobilized by the French Football Federation inside the infrastructure. The other 1,500 members of the police force will patrol public transport and certain areas of the capital frequented by supporters. The French and Paris region authorities have taken three strong measures to secure this match:

• A preventive and drastic security system around the stadium: closure of shops, including restaurants and bars, surrounding the stadium forecourt from 3:45 p.m., five hours before the match, in order to avoid gatherings as much as possible. Access to the Stade de France is also secured with double control [and] a security perimeter around the anti-terrorist stadium.
• A very strict protocol to enter the stadium: to access the enclosure you must present your tickets which are strictly nominative as well as an identity document. A search and frisking are also mandatory to allow each individual to enter the stadium. Several items have also been prohibited: backpacks, liquid containers such as bottles, flasks or cans as well as Palestinian flags. Only French and Israeli flags will be allowed to support the teams present on the field.
• In the stadium, gates have been installed at the foot of all the stands, to prevent any intrusion onto the pitch and to prevent disruption of the match. These gates had been placed at the foot of the bends during the Coupe de France final in 2016 between OM and PSG, but only on the bends.

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Only 20,000 supporters expected

Israel has also sent a very strong message, strongly recommending that nationals of the Hebrew state avoid the match and not travel to Saint-Denis for the game. The French Football Federation expects a maximum of 20,000 people at the Stade de France for the Blues' match against the Israeli team, which is very low compared to the capacity of 80,000. This would break the record for the worst attendance. And of these thousands of supporters, only 100 to 150 are expected to sit in the Israeli stands accessible to people who bought their tickets from the Israel Football Association. Among them, some have made the trip from the Hebrew state on purpose. Other Israeli supporters residing in France are expected to be present, but will not sit in these stands.

It was to protect these supporters from anti-Semitic violence, and more broadly to avoid any clashes on the sidelines of the match, that so many police forces were mobilized.  "We must at all costs avoid having the same scenes at home", a security source explained to Parisien. "We will be watched around the world. It's almost like the Olympics: you can't mess it up.”

Latest updates

17:22 – Emmanuel Macron speaks out on security measures around the match

Emmanuel Macron agreed to answer questions from BFMTV journalists, a few hours before the start of the football match between France and Israel at the Stade de France. “We will not give in to anti-Semitism anywhere and violence, including in the French Republic, will never prevail and neither will intimidation,” he declared, while the security measures deployed is considerable around the Saint-Denis stadium. The head of state will be in the stadium tonight to show his support for the Jews of France, while anti-Semitic violence has increased considerably in recent months.

09:19 – The Paris police prefect promises an “extremely firm response” in the event of unrest

The Paris police prefect Laurent Nuñez, invited this Thursday morning on franceinfo, gave pledges on the system deployed this evening:  "The response of the internal security forces under my authority will be extremely, extremely firm. I want to be reassuring but firm for those who want to cause trouble, with two levels of controls: inside the stadium, which is quite exceptional, the police will be pre-positioned and ready to intervene. Furthermore, the police chief insisted on the fact that “only messages of support for the teams will be tolerated,” political messages are prohibited”. And to add: “We see the tensions that there are in the demonstrations, at the moment, particularly around the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. So we have to remain extremely focused”.