The Spirit of Shankly Association, one of Liverpool's main supporters associations, on Wednesday welcomed the report by French senators exonerating English fans from being behind the incidents during the Champions League final at the end of May at the Stade de France: “The Senate sent this Wednesday a clear message of support to the supporters who attended this match, speaking of a fiasco and declaring that they were not the cause of the problems at the Stade de France.
»
“We want to thank the senators for taking into account the testimonies of the supporters and for having exempted them from any responsibility, but there is always the question of the lies which are repeated in a constant way”, indicates the association in a press release.
However, the association wants "the French government to apologize" and demand "a total retraction about the lies broadcast since May 28, 2022 and we will continue to press for this".
“We will be eternally grateful to them”
At the same time, the association of disabled supporters of Liverpool, also reacted by the voice of its president Ted Morris.
“The LDSA wishes to thank the co-chairs of the commission, Messrs.
Laurent Lafon and François Noël-Buffet, for their diligent and vigorous pursuit of the search for the truth and the responsibility of those responsible for the serious breaches at the Stade de France.
We will be eternally grateful to them for their offer to speak in person at the French Senate,” he wrote.
“Hearing the testimonies of our disabled and non-disabled supporters has been a crucial part of this process.
Giving football fans this rare opportunity to speak out is a lesson that many governing bodies should adopt if the facts are to be established,” added Ted Morris, who also called on Gérald Darmanin “to resign”.
Senators point to the "failures" of the authorities
During the presentation of the report on the fiasco of the Champions League final, senators Laurent Lafon and François-Noël Buffet pointed to the "failures" of the authorities, attributable according to them to the Paris police headquarters, while denouncing a bad "analysis" of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.
"It's not because there were Liverpool supporters who accompanied their team that it went badly," said Laurent Lafon, chairman of the culture committee, during a press briefing.
On the evening of the match won by Real Madrid against Liverpool (1-0), Gérald Darmanin had quickly incriminated Liverpool supporters, before apologizing late.
He said during his hearing before the senators that nearly “35,000” supporters with counterfeit tickets or without tickets had shown up that evening at the Stade de France.