(Adnkronos) – Paris is preparing to host the awaited (and feared) UEFA Nations League match between France and Israel, which will take place at the Stade de France at 8.45 pm tonight. The record deployment of police forces around the stadium will be counterbalanced by the very few tickets sold a few hours before the event, which will see the presence of about 20,000 spectators out of a potential capacity of over 80,000. About 200 Israeli fans are expected in the away section, while French President Emmanuel Macron will be sitting in the stands.
The UEFA Nations League match became a red alert after last Thursday’s violence outside the Johan Crujiff Arena in Amsterdam, when visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were attacked by pro-Palestinian activists after the match against Ajax. Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said that 4,000 patrol officers will be deployed for tonight’s game, including 2,500 around the Stade de France, in the Saint-Denis district, and the rest on public transport and on the streets of the capital. In addition, some 1,600 private security guards will be on duty at the stadium and an elite counter-terrorism police unit will follow the Israeli team.
The Parisian stadium, which can hold 80,000 people, will only be a quarter full. The Israeli government discouraged its citizens from traveling to the event, and only 200 fans are expected to be in the away section of the Stade de France. President Emmanuel Macron has said he will be in the stands tonight to watch the match in solidarity with European Jews following the events in Amsterdam. He will be joined by Prime Minister Michel Barnier and former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Extensive identity checks are expected before the match, while bars and restaurants in the area will be closed from the afternoon. The far-left La France insoumise (LFI) party – which sides with Palestinians and Lebanese in conflicts with Israel – had called for the match to be cancelled, or at least for President Macron to refuse to attend. “We do not want our head of state to honor a country that commits genocide,” LFI MP David Guiraud had said. But Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has guaranteed that “France does not give way to those who sow hatred”, ruling out the possibility of the match being postponed or cancelled.
France and Israel, who are competing in the group with Italy and Belgium, already met in the first leg, on neutral ground in Budapest. The eve of the match had also been tense then, as Paris had given the green light to a pro-Israel “gala” event, which was to be attended by Israeli far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich, who eventually appeared only by video link. Several thousand pro-Palestinian and anti-racist organizations took to the streets to protest alongside the event, sparking clashes in which police had to use tear gas to disperse protesters who had stormed a McDonald’s on Boulevard Montmartre.
