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PARIS – Fearing possible riots after tomorrow’s World Cup semi-final match against Morocco, France will mobilise 10,000 police officers, including 5,000 for Paris and its surrounding areas.
Police are to be deployed in particular around the famed Champs-Elysees boulevard in Paris as Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced before the National Assembly.
The famous street previously saw violent incidents on December 10 after the quarter-final victories of Morocco and France. Nevertheless, the Champs-Elysees will not be closed today.
Instead, most of the entrance gates to the Paris ring road, including several metro and RER light rail stations, will be closed from 6.30pm.
Authorities are also concerned with the threat posed by radical right-wing hooligans, who have reportedly spoken out in favor of a “civil confrontation between the two nations.”
Members of the “Strasbourg Offenders”, a hooligan group made up of neo-Nazis, Identitarians and ultra-nationalists, have allegedly planned to take to the city streets after the game to “patrol” and “restore order”.
The match is being seen in some circles as a proxy face-off between colonialist France and its former colonies in North Africa. – Bernama, December 14, 2022
