‘Criminal assault’: report’s verdict on police treatment of fans at Champions League final
An independent inquiry into the traumatic events that preceded the Champions League final in Paris in May has found that Liverpool supporters were subjected to treatment that “constituted criminal assault”.
Fans were constrained, corralled, assaulted and exposed to teargas by French police as they attempted to enter the Stade de France. A new report, produced by academics who evaluated 485 eyewitness testimonies from that night, concluded that “those organising and administering the event” were responsible for a “collapse in authority, management and safety” which avoided tragedy only because of preventative actions taken by fans.
“Persistent, random police assaults on fans, and unprovoked deployment of teargas on men, women and children trapped in confined spaces, was reckless and dangerous. It constituted criminal assault,” the report said.
“At the Stade de France there were egregious failures on all aspects of Uefa’s responsibility for stadium safety. Sustained failure in crowd management severely compromised the health and wellbeing of fans.
“It is clear from fans’ statements that they were put at risk by aggressive policing, ineffectual safety measures and a failure to implement comprehensive stadium safety management plans based on risk management principles. “Grounded in their understanding, and for some direct experience, of the Hillsborough disaster, Liverpool fans prevented a fatal tragedy occurring through their collective action.”
The inquiry was led by Prof Phil Scraton, who was a senior figure on the Hillsborough Independent Panel. Of the eyewitnesses interviewed by the inquiry two-thirds mentioned fearing for their lives.
“It is difficult to comprehend the sequence of events that constituted the debacle in Paris, leaving so many people physically injured, psychologically harmed and financially compromised,” Scraton said.
One individual caught up in the chaos was the mayor of Liverpool city region, Steve Rotheram. In an interview with the BBC due to be broadcast on Monday night, he repeated what he told the Guardian last month: that he had warned Aleksander Ceferin of the dangers faced by fans outside and that the president of Uefa had cut the discussion short.
Ceferin later wrote to the mayor, saying he had walked away to deal with the unfolding situation. Rotheram believes trauma experienced by fans was the result of systemic problems. “This will continue to happen unless Uefa make a concerted effort to ensure that the primary objective of any of their games is fan safety,” he told BBC Panorama.
Uefa has apologised to fans of Liverpool and Real Madrid, and French authorities have admitted to making errors on the night. Uefa did not respond to the publication of the report on Monday, as it waits to publish its own investigation into events next month.