Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Wednesday sketched out a mea culpa for the disastrous organization of the Champions League final, paving the way for reparations for fans and sanctions against the police, while maintaining his controversial version on the number of counterfeit banknotes.

“It is obvious that things could have been better organized”, declared Minister Gérald Darmanin before the Senate law commission, deploring a “spoiled sports festival” and “sometimes unacceptable overflows”.

The Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra was also heard by the commission

He also “sincerely apologized” to Liverpool supporters for “the great damage, especially to children” caused by tear gas.

For the first time since Saturday, Gérald Darmanin assured that he had “asked sanctions from the prefect of police” for two members of the police, guilty according to him of using tear gas “contrary to the rules of use”.

Two people also seized the IGPN, the “police of the police” after the events of Saturday, indicated Mr. Darmanin, without detail.

But the minister who has incriminated British supporters since the start of the controversy, believing that they are largely responsible for the incidents, reaffirmed that “110,000 people” showed up “in and around” the Stade de France. Or “35,000” supporters more than the planned gauge and provided, according to him, with falsified tickets or without a ticket.

“Images prove the return during the first half and then during the second half of many British supporters, who left in particular via the RER D”, assured Mr. Darmanin.

“Several tickets were duplicated hundreds of times,” he also said.

In France and England, the controversy remains lively around the device of maintaining order on the sidelines of the most important match of the season in Europe, won by Real Madrid (1-0) against Liverpool.

The executive director of the English club Billy Hogan announced that the platform for collecting testimonials from Reds supporters set up on Monday had already received 5,000 responses in 24 hours.

And what he read “horrified” him: “Men, women and children, able-bodied people and others less so, were treated indiscriminately during the day on Saturday”, he said. regretted.

From Monday, the British and Spaniards “will be able to file a complaint in their country”, also declared the minister, explaining that French police officers will be dispatched on the spot.

Gérald Darmanin also announced that he had asked the interministerial delegate to the Olympic Games, Michel Cadot, to consider “different rules” than that of dispersion with tear gas in the event of “exceptional sporting events”.

In France, with the approach of the legislative elections (June 12 and 19), the affair took a highly political turn, in particular on the country’s ability to organize major sporting events one year from the Rugby World Cup 2023 and to two years of the Olympic Games in Paris.

The numbers of supporters without tickets put forward by Gérald Darmanin are a “serious lie”, denounced Marine Le Pen on Wednesday, believing that he “should consider on his own that he must leave”.

“A minister who lies is bad news and does not bode well for the coming five-year term,” said LFI MEP Manuel Bompard, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s right-hand man, on Franceinfo.

On the grill, Mr. Darmanin however retains “all the confidence of the President of the Republic”, retorted Wednesday the spokesperson of the government Olivia Grégoire.

The French Football Federation defended the reinforced system put in place around the stadium.

For the time being, the FFF and UEFA have estimated the number of “counterfeit tickets scanned” at “2,800” on Saturday, according to sources familiar with the matter, confirming information from RMC Sports.

But among these 2,800 counterfeit tickets may include real tickets that have been incorrectly activated, according to Pierre Barthélémy, lawyer for groups of French supporters present at the stadium on Saturday.

For their part, the intelligence services had alerted the authorities as early as May 25 of the presence of “about 50,000 English supporters” who “will not be ticket holders”.

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01/06/2022 20:18:29 –         Paris (AFP) –         © 2022 AFP