French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has apologized for the disastrous organization of Saturday’s Champions League final, paving the way for compensation for Liverpool fans who were released due to tear gas. Entrance to the Stade de France.
“Obviously, things could have been better organized,” Darmanin said during a hearing before a French Senate committee, deploring the “ruined sporting event” and “sometimes unacceptable excesses.”
He offered a “sincere apology” to Liverpool fans for the “serious harm, especially to children” caused by the use of tear gas.
For the first time since Saturday, the minister confirmed that he “requested punishment” for two members of the security forces for using tear gas “in violation of the rules for its use.”
He said that two people had filed a complaint with the French National Police Inspectorate about the Saturday events.
On the other hand, the minister, who had referred from the very beginning of the case to British fans, believing that they were most responsible for the events, confirmed that “110,000 people” visited “in the city and its environs”. Stade de France, which exceeds the planned capacity of “35,000” fans with fake cards, some without cards.
“The photos prove that a lot of British fans came back during the first break and then during the second, and they were leaving, especially on the express train,” Darmanan said.
The French and European federations estimated the “number of fake tickets scanned” on Saturday at “2,800”, according to sources close to the case.
