'No doubt there's a headline in a trashy French newspaper brewing. Headline: La verité.' The French authorities' response to Champions League final chaos on Saturday has 'heavy echoes of Hillsborough', Shelagh Fogarty argues. ShelaghFogarty
French officials have come under fierce scrutiny following Saturday night's Champions League Final, which saw Liverpool fans tear gassed and assaulted by French police near the Stade de France.
Political figures and policing authorities blamed the widespread circulation of counterfeit tickets in advance of the Champions League final for immense delays and unsavoury scenes in Paris.France's interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday that between 30,000 and 40,000 travelling Liverpool fans arrived at the Stade de France either without tickets or with counterfeit copies.
"I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that it isn't precisely what the French authorities, both political and policing, are describing", Shelagh Fogarty told her listeners. "I've been sick to my stomach over the weekend actually, whenever I focus on this story and I can only imagine how much more sick to their stomachs and their hearts the real victims of Hillsborough have been."Shelagh drew similarities between how the French police have reacted to the chaos and how South Yorkshire Police handled the immediate aftermath of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, where 97 Liverpool fans died in a crush at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium.
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