Bankled benches, shop and advertising panels destroyed, the damage is important after the disorders that followed the ASSE defeat, relegated to Ligue 2.
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The cauldron overflowed. From the end of the match relegating ASSE in Ligue 2, Sunday evening May 29, the lawn of the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne was invaded by several dozen supporters. “Several hundred ultra supporters have invaded the field and thrown projectiles, fireworks, as well as smoke bombs in the direction of the public and the stands,” summed up the Loire prefecture in a tweet. Two hundred and fifty police officers from CRS and mobile gendarmes were mobilized for the security of this meeting opposing AJ Auxerre to AS Saint-Etienne. The two clubs competed in the return of the dam match deciding or not in Ligue 1. The two teams decided on penalties, after two parts in the result 1-1.
“We knew that the lawn was going to be invaded this evening, whether they win or lose, it was a planned situation,” said an internal source of the club. The authorities expected an agitated evening, and access to the land is part of the management of the crowd. When public movements run through the stands, security barriers can lower to avoid the dramas that football has known in the past.
But events raise other questions. Less planned, the numerous shots of smoke and fireworks caused a dangerous situation, especially because they targeted players and public. In the second which followed the last shot to the goal, signing the defeat of ASSE, groups of supporters drawn pyrotechnic devices by targeting the exit tunnel of the players, when they tried to precipitate the locker room. “We were lucky at that time,” said the club’s framework. No serious injuries are to be deplored.
“I freaked up”
Several dozen of these projectiles have also reached the official gallery. Images broadcast on social networks have shown fire balls at the foot of its stands. Supporters tried to force the grids to enter it. They were postponed by the police using tear gas. The sidelines were burnt down. All the advertising panels surrounding the land have been destroyed. The stadium store was ransacked. While the AJ Auxerre coach held the post-match conference, spectators entered the press room to take refuge, in order to avoid crowd movements and smoke. “I freaked out, I took lots of tear gas canrew on the face,” said Jean-Marc Furlan to journalists. The fumes have spread to the locker room.
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