Barely saved their lives

[Garo]

Barely saved their lives

 

PARIS (AP) -- Twenty-one people received hospital treatment after being injured in crowd violence that erupted at a Champions Cup match between Paris Saint-Germain and Turkish club Galatasaray, French police said Wednesday.

 

The injuries were not serious, and none of the 21 people were kept in the hospital overnight, Gerard Dubois, spokesman for the Paris police prefecture, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

 

Nine people were detained Tuesday, four of them for being drunk in public. Two of the four were Turkish, and the remaining seven people arrested were French, Dubois said. All nine have since been released.

 

Fighting broke out in a seating area where fans from both clubs were located, French sports daily L'Equipe reported Wednesday. PSG's spokeswoman was not available for comment when phone calls were made to her office.

 

PSG won the Tuesday match 2-0 thanks to two goals from Brazilian striker Christian but was already eliminated from the tournament. Despite the defeat, Galatasaray went through to the quarterfinals in second place in Group B behind Deportivo La Coruna.

 

The match was stopped in the 59th minute when a fan with a bloody face wearing a Galatasaray sweater ran onto the field before being accompanied back off by stewards. Other fans tried to enter the field but were held off by security personnel.

 

Players were evacuated from the field a few minutes later as fighting raged in the stands. The match restarted about 25 minutes later, after the violence had died down.

 

Turkish papers accused the French of attacking the Turkish fans, and the French police of not intervening to protect the Turks.

 

"Ugly French!" headlined daily Sabah, while Yeni Safak newspaper described the French supporters as "barbarians!"

 

The Daily Star said the Turkish supporters "barely saved their lives by jumping into the field." It claimed the assailants were French people and French of Armenian origin, linking Tuesday's clashes to the French parliament's decision to recognize the 1915 killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

 

"The genocide law wasn't enough. The Armenians provoked again. The French fanatics attacked the Turks. Police just stayed as spectators," daily Milliyet wrote.

 

Ten thousand members of the police, gendarmerie and special riot units were stationed outside the Parc des Princes as the match was considered "high risk," Dubois said.

 

They intervened within the stadium after the incidents began, he said. Security within the stadium is the responsibility of the match organizers and their own security personnel, but police intervene if serious incidents occur.

 

The control and disciplinary body of UEFA, which organizes the Champions Cup, will meet March 21 and consider whether PSG was responsible for allowing the violence to break out. Under UEFA rules, the receiving team is responsible for match security.

 

Violence mars PSG's 2-0 win over Galatasaray

 

PARIS (AP) -- Fan violence marred Paris Saint-Germain's 2-0 victory over Galatasaray Tuesday in what was the Paris club's last match of the Champions Cup.

 

Fighting in the stands at the Parc des Princes forced the match to be stopped for some 25 minutes in the second half as PSG, already eliminated from the tournament, set up the face-saving victory.

 

Turkish side Galatasaray was guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals before Tuesday's match. The defeat meant it took second place in Group B behind Deportivo La Coruna. Both sides have ten points but the Spanish club takes first place because of better head-to-head results than the Turks.

 

Brazilian striker Christian scored the first of two goals after only three minutes, whipping a left-foot shot diagonally across the penalty area and into the back right corner of the goal.

 

In the visitor's only real goal attempt, striker Emre Bolozoglu broke through the PSG defense only to send his left-foot shot into the arms of 'keeper Lionel Letizi.

 

Collecting a deep shot, PSG striker Laurent Leroy tore through the penalty area before passing from just right of the goal to Christian, who powered the ball into the net a second time in the 27th minute.

 

Galatasaray skipper Gheorghe Popescu was carried off in the 57th minute after pulling up while challenging Leroy for the ball.

 

The match was stopped again two minutes later after a fan with a bloody face walked onto the field before being surrounded by stewards and accompanied back off. Other fans, also apparently from the Turkish fans' seating area, attempted to enter the field but were forced back by security personnel.

 

The players were evacuated from the field a few minutes later as violence raged in the stands between fans, many of whom were armed with poles. It was unclear whether the fighting was between PSG and Galatasaray fans or between fans from the same club.

 

After the teams were brought back on, there was plenty of end-to-end play but virtually no scoring opportunities.

 

Galatasaray, the winner of last season's UEFA Cup, was guaranteed a berth in the quarterfinals after beating five-time champion AC Milan 2-0 last week.

 

 

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