image source, EPA
Paris Saint-Germain fans raised a huge banner in support of the Palestinians and Lebanon, before the start of their team’s match against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, in a move that was criticized by the French Interior Minister.
At the French club’s Princes Park stadium, a huge banner covered part of the stadium that hosted the match that the Qatari-owned Parisian team lost to the Spanish club by two goals to one.
The sign read, “Free Palestine,” in addition to a picture of the Palestinian flag stained with blood, a man with a keffiyeh covering his face except for his eyes, the Dome of the Rock in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and a boy wearing the Lebanese flag.
This move sparked condemnation by French Interior Minister Bruno Ritaio, who wrote on the X platform: “This banner has no place inside the stadium.”
He considered that such actions are prohibited in French and European football, adding: “I call on Paris Saint-Germain to clarify its position, and I call on the clubs to ensure that politics does not harm sport, which must remain a reason for unity.”
The Minister of the Interior continued: “If this happens again, we will be forced to prevent clubs that do not implement the laws from raising banners.”
Possible French sanctions
While the European Football Association (UEFA) said that the French club would not face sanctions, Retayo did not rule this out.
UEFA explained: “No disciplinary action will be opened, because the raised banner cannot be considered provocative or insulting in this particular case.”
But Ritayo said in response to a question from Radio Sud whether he would seek to impose sanctions on Paris Saint-Germain, “I do not rule anything out. I will ask Paris Saint-Germain to clarify the matter.”
He said: “The responsibility certainly lies with the club president. I want to know how this banner got to the stadium and how it was opened and displayed.”
Paris Saint-Germain said after the match that it had not been informed of any intentions to raise this banner.
He added in a statement: “The club confirms that the “Princes Park” stadium is intended to be a place where people come together around their common passion for football, and strongly opposes any messages of a political nature within it.”
The head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, Yonathan Arvi, described the sign as a “scandal,” saying that it “shows a masked Palestinian fighter” and “a map in which there is no place for the State of Israel.”
He added: “This is not a message of peace, but rather a call to hatred.”
UEFA rules prohibit the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to convey a “provocative message” deemed inappropriate for a sporting event, especially messages of a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature.
The fine for raising a political banner for the first time reaches 10,000 euros, according to the European Football Association.
Last year, the Scottish team Celtic was fined 17.5 thousand euros, because its fans waved the Palestinian flag during a Champions League match.
image source, EPA
“War on the field”
“War on the field, but peace in the world,” this is what fans of the French club wrote under the huge banner behind the goal inside the stadium, which has a capacity of about 48,000 spectators.
During the match, fans raised another banner that read, “Is the life of one child in Gaza less important than the life of another child?”
This comes amid Israel’s continued military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. More than 43,000 Palestinians were killed in the Palestinian Strip and more than 100,000 others were injured, according to what the Ministry of Health in the Strip reported.
Israel also launches a military operation in the occupied West Bank.
France and Israel match
image source, Reuters
This also comes about a week before the French national football team hosts its Israeli counterpart at the “Stade de France” in Paris, which has a capacity of about 80,000 spectators, as part of the European Nations League tournament.
Questions were raised about the security measures surrounding the match, in a country that hosts the largest Jewish community in Europe and the third largest in the world after the United States and Israel, in addition to the largest number of Muslims in Europe.
Last Monday, pro-Palestinian activists entered the headquarters of the French Football Federation in Paris, to protest against the organization of the match on November 14 in the fifth round of the second group competitions in the European Nations League, according to what the federation said.
The activists carried banners that read, in particular, “No to the France-Israel match” or “Genocide Champions League,” calling on the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to “ban Israel.”
On October 17, Paris Police Director Laurent Nunez described the match as “high-risk,” and added that it would be subject to a “very enhanced security system outside and inside the stadium.”
On the other hand, the Belgium-Israel match last September within the same tournament was moved to Hungary, where it was held behind closed doors, after several Belgian cities refused to host the match, for fear of violations.
On October 10, during the third round of the Nations League competition, the match between Israel and France (4-1) was also transferred to Hungary.
France banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations, after Hamas attacked Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, but this ban was lifted after a decision by a French court.
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