A French investigation of the security incident at the Uefa Champions League final in May concluded that a long list of administrative mistakes and failures were to blame, not Liverpool supporters.
The pandemonium in the crowd that resulted in fans being tear-gassed and robbed in Paris was initially attributed by the French authorities to supporters and false tickets. However, according to a Senate study, the authorities wrongfully accused them. It claimed that dysfunctional errors were committed at every level.
Two Senate committees looked into what went wrong on the night of the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Paris on May 28. They gathered testimony from Liverpool fan and club representatives as well as French officials for their report, titled Champions League Final: An Unavoidable Fiasco.
According to Liverpool supporters, issues at the Stade de France turnstiles were brought on by digital tickets that did not function properly on the night of the match. The situation was made worse by a rail strike, which created congestion as fans came for the game.
Fans were robbed and beaten by neighbourhood troublemakers in addition to being tear-gassed outside the stadium. Then it was discovered that the CCTV footage had been deleted a week later since no request to save it had been made.
One of the inquiry’s two chairs, Laurent Lafon, described an uncoordinated series of events and preparatory errors by saying, “Everyone went their own way without there being any real coordination.”
The investigation criticises Paris police, Uefa, and the French government. Uefa is criticised for failing to prepare for probable ticket fraud, and the government is criticised for placing the burden on the fans.
Additionally, it concluded that the deployment of tear gas on spectators was “especially harsh.” The security measures utilised by Parisian authorities, according to Liverpool supporters who testified at the inquiry, were similar to those used against hooligans in the 1980s.
As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the May final was moved from St. Petersburg to the local area in the middle of March, leaving local officials little time to prepare. However, it criticised Uefa for not passing legislation to prohibit bogus paper tickets. The administration was embarrassed by the tragic events outside the stadium as it prepared for the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris as well as the June parliamentary elections.
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