French anti-racism and anti-hooliganism groups have warned that measures should be taken to prevent tensions in Paris as Chelsea football fans arrive for a Champions League match next week, one year after a racist incident by fans on the Paris Metro.
Chelsea will play Paris Saint-Germai in the French capital on Tuesday, one year almost to the day since the teams’ last Champions League game on French soil was marred by Chelsea fans who were filmed pushing a black commuter off a Paris Metro carriage, chanting “We’re racist, we’re racist, and that’s the way we like it.”
The anti-racism group SOS Racisme and the charity Sportitude, fearing renewed friction over last year’s attacks, have suggested a welcome committee should be put in place to greet Chelsea fans arriving off the Eurostar train at the Gare du Nord under the banner “Let’s Share the Game”, to stress “the shared values of sport”. They have also proposed staging a publicity campaign on the Metro lines leading to the stadium, placing “welcome volunteers” along the Metro route as well as special volunteers at the match itself where up to 1,400 Chelsea fans are expected.
The proposals, intended to stamp out any ill-feeling on either side, are being considered by Paris authorities.
Souleymane Sylla, the French sales manager who was pushed off the Metro in the racist incident last year and went to police, said he would be keen to be among any welcome delegation at the Gare du Nord to greet Chelsea fans.
He told the Guardian: “I have had a lot of support from English fans over what happened on the Metro. It’s important to say that the people responsible for what happened to me have nothing to do with the rest of English supporters in general. I’m not the only person in the world who has had to face this and it’s important to highlight the issue and to fight against racism in sport.”
Sylla was so traumatised by the incident that he stopped work for six months and started taking the Metro again only this month. He said he was now rebuilding his life and was pleased the French criminal case was advancing. “Ultimately, the most important thing is that there is justice in this case,” he said.
He has accepted an invitation by Paris Saint-Germain to watch the match at Parc des Princes next week.
Hermann Ebongue, a vice-president of SOS Racisme and head of the charity Sportitude, one of the figures behind the crackdown on racism and hooliganism at Paris Saint-Germain in recent years, said it was important to prevent any ill-feeling before the match and to stress the friendship between the clubs.
“As this match approaches, the images of what happened on the Paris Metro will be shown again and that could create a climate of tension that risks stigmatising English supporters,” he told the Guardian.
“The best way for us to tackle this is not to simply place lots more police in Paris but to make a gesture to remind people that football is about shared values. We want to show that that racism, violence, antisemitism don’t have any place in football. We also want to avoid English supporters being stigmatised. It’s important that the minority behind the Metro incident do not tarnish all the other supporters who had nothing to do with it. We also need to be sure that no scenes like this will be seen again.”
It is understood that Chelsea are considering the proposals.
Last year five Chelsea fans were given football banning orders of up to five years following the Metro incident. Handing down the banning orders, the judge described the Metro scene as “a racist incident” that has “further damaged the already tarnished image of British football in Europe”.
Chelsea condemned the incident and all five received lifetime bans from the club.
After a French police investigationwas launched last February with co-operation from the Metropolitan police, the dossier has been handed to the French state prosecutor who will decide the next move.
Any criminal trial must take place in France under the French justice system because that is where the alleged crime took place. For a trial to take place in France, a French judge would have to issue an international arrest warrant for the suspects to be extradited for trial.
If found guilty, the maximum penalty the men could face would be a three-year prison sentence and a €45,000 fine.
Jim Michel-Gabriel, Sylla’s lawyer, told the Guardian: “The case is progressing, the investigation dossier has been handed to the public prosecutor.”
France remains under a state of emergency since the terrorist attacks on Paris’s national stadium, bars and a concert hall killed 130 people on November 13th. Security at sports matches has been increased as Paris prepares to host the European Championship in June.
Guardian services
