Marseille game postponed again amid security worries

French league giants Marseille will miss a second consecutive league encounter after their weekend fixture with Bordeaux was postponed by league chiefs on Thursday.

Marseille’s league match with Saint-Etienne was postponed last week due to security concerns linked to the Francewide “yellow vests” movement.

Authorities are expecting more anti-government demonstrations this weekend, which, combined with other “demands for police and security services elsewhere,” according to the French Professional League (LFP), has left a shortfall in the numbers of available officers for league encounters.

Three other league games – Nice versus Saint-Etienne, Nantes versus Montpellier and Caen versus Toulouse – have been postponed for similar reasons.

Last week six games were postponed amid mass “yellow vest” demonstrations in France aimed at the government of President Emmanuel Macron. They were all rescheduled to be played on January 15-16.

Although more protests are expected this weekend, France is also on tenterhooks following a shooting in Strasbourg in which three people died. The 29-year-old suspect on France’s terror watchlist is still at large.

The victims will be honored by a minute’s silence at all remaining league fixtures this weekend.

The LFP said “a minute’s silence” will be held before all kickoffs this weekend “to honor and show our solidarity with the victims of the shooting in Strasbourg.”