(AP) – Paris Police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium employees will be deployed for a soccer match between France and Israel to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation, a week after violence against Israeli fanatics in Amsterdam.
France and Israel will play a UEFA Nations League match this Thursday, which will be attended by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the Elysee presidential palace reported.
Israel’s National Security Council, in a statement on Sunday, warned citizens abroad to avoid sporting and cultural events, specifically the match in Paris, and to be wary of violent attacks “under the guise of demonstrations.”
“There is a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us,” Paris Police Chief Laurent Nuñez told French news station BFM TV, adding that authorities “will not tolerate” no type of violence.
Núñez said that 2,500 police officers will be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, north of the French capital, in addition to another 1,500 in Paris and on public transport.
“There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” Núñez said. Security checks will be “reinforced,” he added, including with systematic pat-downs and bag searches.
Núñez said French organizers have been in contact with Israeli authorities and security forces to prepare for the match.
Last week, Israeli fans were attacked after a soccer match in Amsterdam by hordes of youths apparently outraged by calls on social media to attack Jews, according to Dutch authorities.
Five people were treated in hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as anti-Semitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe. Before the match, large crowds of Israeli team supporters could be seen on video chanting anti-Arab slogans as they headed to the stadium, escorted by police.
This Sunday, the Dutch Police arrested several people for participating in a demonstration in the center of Amsterdam that had been banned after violence against Israeli fans, a local station reported.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed on Friday that the France-Israel match will go ahead as planned.
“I think for a symbolic reason we should not give in, we should not give up,” he said, noting that sports fans from around the world gathered at the Paris Olympics this year to celebrate the “universal values” of sport.
Macron’s expected presence is not only a show of support for the French team, but also aims to send “a message of brotherhood and solidarity after the intolerable anti-Semitic acts that followed the game in Amsterdam,” said an official close to Macron. The official could not be identified in accordance with usual Elysée practices.
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