Pro-Palestinian activists entered the premises of the French Football Federation (FFF) in Paris on Monday, November 4, to protest against the organization of the Blues’ match against Israel on November 14, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned from of a spokesperson. for the FFF. About forty protesters from the association “Stop genocide”According to this source, he was sitting in the Federation lobby, in front of a trophy case.
They remained for about an hour and the beginning of a meeting of two of their delegates with a Federation leader the next day, Tuesday around 6 p.m., to discuss their requests, he said.
According to the attached media images, the protesters chanted HE Song of the Partisansa song of the French Resistance of World War II. They brandished or placed on the ground signs on which it was written: “No to the France-Israel party”, “Genocide Champions League”or others who ask FIFA, the international federation, to ban Israel.
The French team will face the Israeli team on November 14 in the fifth round of the Nations League at the Stade de France. “a high risk match” in the context of the war in the Middle East, said the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, on October 17. The meeting will be supervised by “an extremely reinforced security system inside and out” of the premises, he said.
Transfer to Hungary for the first leg
Already in July, during the Paris Olympic Games, a thousand police and gendarmes were mobilized for the men’s soccer match between Mali and Israel in the Parc des Princes, due to requests from “mobilization” against the presence of the Israeli delegation in France in the context of the war in Gaza. No notable incidents had been reported.
Separately, in September, Belgium’s home match against Israel in the Nations League was moved to Debrecen, Hungary, and played behind closed doors, following the refusal of several Belgian cities to host this match for fear of excesses. On October 10, during the third day of the Nations League, the Israel-France match, won by Les Bleus 4-1, was also moved to Hungary, in Budapest.
The meeting took place almost a year after the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli soil. According to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, 1,206 people died. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, including 34 who were declared dead by the Jewish State’s army.
In retaliation, the Israeli army launched a devastating offensive in Gaza that left 43,374 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health published on Monday, November 4.
