Last update - 00:00 26/11/2006
France toughens after fan dies in melee against TA supporter
By DPA
PARIS - The French government moved yesterday to clamp down on racist football fan violence following the death of a Paris St. Germain supporter who was shot by a plainclothes policeman following the team's UEFA Cup home loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv Thursday. The policeman said he was protecting a Jewish supporter of Hapoel from a mob of about 100 PSG fans outside the stadium.
At a crisis meeting between Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, soccer clubs and supporters' clubs yesterday, Sarkozy called on local authorities to draw up lists of troublemakers to be banned from soccer stadiums.
Sarkozy also called on fan clubs that do not cooperate with police and legal authorities on security in and around stadiums to be banned.
Match tickets for fan sections on the grounds should be sold only via official supporters' clubs, Sarkozy said.
"We want to sweep the racist elements out of the stadiums," he said. "We don't want any Nazi salutes or monkey noises when black players are on the ball."
Paris St. Germain President Alain Cayzac welcomed the measures, saying "everyone is aware of the seriousness of the situation."
Residents living around the Parc des Princes Stadium, meanwhile, called for the club to be dissolved. Media criticism yesterday said the club had tolerated for too long its notorious racist fan element.
"When soccer kills" was the banner headline of the French sports daily L'Equipe. It was written in white letters on a totally black front page.
"The death of a PSG supporter... tragically is a reminder that French soccer has failed to eradicate violence and racism from the stands of some of its clubs, which is unforgivable," it wrote.
Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal proposed shutting down the stands where the gangs congregate. "The club must accept its responsibility and shut down the stands where these unacceptable bursts of violence, racism and anti-Semitism occur," she said at a campaign event in Bondy, northeast of Paris.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation against the police officer, who remains in custody, on a charge of "causing death with a weapon," which could be mitigated by an act of "legitimate self-defense," Paris prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said.
The police officer, Antoine Granomort, originally from the Caribbean, opened fire on the PSG fans, leading to the death of a 24-year-old.
A second fan was seriously injured.
Prosecutors said cries of "Dirty nigger" were hurled at the policeman by some 100 youths, who also shouted "Dirty Jew" at the Hapoel supporter whom he was aiding.
Five PSG supporters were detained on suspicion of "racist and anti-Semitic abuse."
Meanwhile, Paris city sports official Pascal Cherki called on PSG to close the Boulogne stand in the stadium where its most notorious fans gather to watch games. "If the police had not acted, we would have experienced a Jew being lynched."