Will we see the Paris Saint-Germain jersey on the Old Port on Sunday? The authorities strongly advise against it to aficionados of the Parisian club which faces Bayern Munich in the final of the Champions League in Lisbon that evening. Fearing that they will be taken to task, the police headquarters of Bouches-du-Rhône "urges" supporters of the capital present in Marseille during its retransmission "not to wear ostentatious signs in public space" and to “show moderation in their eventual celebrations”. But she finally repealed a decree taken the day before which prohibited the wearing of the red and blue tunic in the city center of Marseille.
A back-pedaling in twelve hours flat "in the face of the incomprehension aroused" and a start of bronca. Thursday evening, the decree has just fallen, that several elected Parisians are moved directly to the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. This is the case of Walker Hugues Renson, also vice-president of the National Assembly, but also of Senator LR of the capital Pierre Charon, who call him on his mobile phone. As soon as they are informed, the tenant of Place Beauvau, who according to our information was not personally aware of this decree, approaches his office to assess its relevance while some question its legal validity.
"In no case a sanction against the prefect"
“The prefect is within his rights, and his decree was perfectly legal. But we nevertheless considered that this measure was not the most appropriate, we confide in the entourage of the Minister. The match does not take place in Marseille, the final takes place very far away in Lisbon, and we are not going to ban people from wearing the jersey of a football club. "
Friday morning, Darmanin therefore asks his cabinet to contact the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône so that he can backtrack. Has the minister previously discussed this with Emmanuel Macron? " Absolutely not. They did not speak to each other on this subject. He is Minister of the Interior, he is still capable of making this kind of decision on his own… ”, reacts a relative. Beauvau also specifies that this about-face is “in no way a sanction against the prefect. He even obtained additional resources for Sunday evening, with a mobile force of around a hundred police officers in addition, ”it says.
It must be said that in the meantime, the controversy had dangerously swelled against the decree which targeted "any person availing himself of the quality of Parisian supporter or behaving as such", threatening the offenders with a fine of 30,000 euros and a six-month prison sentence. "A nonsense" tackle in a tweet Hugues Renson, a big fan of PSG, from Thursday evening. "Prohibiting the wearing of clothing on the grounds that it would arouse hatred in some people is not admissible," he said.
Anne Hidalgo "deeply shocked" by the decree
In the capital, Mayor Anne Hidalgo shares the same misunderstanding. “I did not react publicly but I found it incredibly violent, she confides this Friday afternoon to the Parisian. We know that there are excesses on the sidelines of the meetings between these two clubs, but coming from a prefect of the Republic, this ban deeply shocked me. Paris has suffered enough with hooliganism and if it has been able to restore confidence, it is by working with its supporters. It is in this fundamental work that I believe, more than in prohibitions. "In Marseille, the first deputy Benoît Payan also believes, after the fact, that" this decision made no sense ".
According to the police headquarters, "the sole purpose of this decree was to protect Parisian supporters, and in no way aimed to restrict the freedom of the population". Because the authorities fear new tensions in the birthplace of Olympique de Marseille, the first and for the time being the only French club to win the Champions League in 1993, where the rivalry with the Parisian club is historic. Tuesday evening, during the victorious semi-final of PSG against Leipzig, two people, one of them wearing the jersey of the Parisian club, had been attacked in the city center.
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"Reason ended up winning: we have to bring the game back to its place", urges Renaud Muselier, president (LR) of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, supporter of OM but who will support Sunday " a French team facing a German team ”. Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu also wants the national union to win on Sunday: "I hope that all French people, including in Marseille, will be behind PSG and that there will be no clashes because the sport should never be the pretext for violence. "