PARIS: Thousands of extra police officers are being deployed in and around Paris ahead of a France-Israel football match on Thursday which comes a week after violence exploded on the streets of Amsterdam.
Pro-Palestinian groups are urging France against playing host to sporting teams of Israel while it is waging wars and deadly attacks in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, arguing that similar measures were taken against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine reports Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, few have snapped up tickets for the match at the Stade de France, which is north of Paris, throwing into question for some the necessity of a large-scale police operation.
Officials say security at the match will be heavily reinforced. Police officers will be deployed at Stade de France and across public transport networks.
Measures are being beefed up in part to prevent the kind of clashes that broke out in Amsterdam, the Dutch capital, before and after a football match between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Netherlands’s Ajax team.
Leopold Lambert, an editor and architect in the French capital, said, “The atmosphere in Paris, at least for people who both have Palestine and football in mind, is the desire for a strong solidarity action to happen, which probably will have to occur outside of the stadium given the massive police apparatus.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters plan to gather in front of the Saint-Denis town hall, which is about a 20-minute walk from the stadium, on Thursday evening to express their opposition to the match.
“Israel being involved in sports, being involved in everything else, is what they want so that we stop talking about Gaza or the genocide,” Nadim Smair, a Jordanian Palestinian restaurateur and event producer in Paris, told Al Jazeera.
Europe should censor Israeli athletes
French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Michel Barnier plan to attend Thursday’s game according to information from Macron’s office sent to AFP.
Macron echoed the sentiment among many Western leaders following the game in the Netherlands, casting the chaos in the Netherlands which appear to downplay the hurt caused by Israeli football supporters.
On the eve of the Amsterdam match, Israeli fans burned a Palestinian flag and destroyed a taxi. On the way to the game, videos showed Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab phrases. Following the football match, people on scooters attacked Israeli fans and others hit them with fireworks. Five Israelis were hospitalised and 20 to 30 received mild injuries.
Other prominent political figures including the ex-Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and Gerard Larcher, former president of the Senate, also plan to watch the match.
Lawmakers from left-wing party France Unbowed (LFI), which is sympathetic to the suffering of Palestinians, have added their voice to boycott calls.
“There is an active boycott on that game, and so many of us will absolutely not watch it, despite our love for football,” Lambert said.
Global opposition to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is increasingly visible at football events.
Last week, Paris Saint-Germain fans unveiled a “Free Palestine” banner during a Champions League match at Parc des Princes stadium.
