PARIS — Nearly 130 people were arrested overnight as fans clashed with police following Paris Saint-Germain's advancement to the Champions League final, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed Thursday.
The total: 127 arrests in the Paris metropolitan area, including 107 within Paris city limits. Eleven rioters sustained injuries, with one serious wound involving a mortar. Twenty-three police officers received minor injuries.
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
Violence erupted outside PSG's Parc des Princes stadium and along the Champs-Élysées, where officers dispersed groups attempting to block the Paris ring road. Nuñez condemned the clashes, noting that "hundreds of individuals responsible for these excesses during these festivities look to clash with law enforcement."
Security will be heightened for the May 30 final against Arsenal in Budapest. Nuñez appeared to criticize recently elected Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire for announcing a Paris fan zone without prior police consultation.
Riots have become a recurring footnote in PSG celebrations. When the club won the Champions League last year, French police made over 500 arrests nationwide. A man in his 20s died in Paris when his scooter was struck by a car during post-match festivities. After the 2020 final loss to Bayern, 148 arrests followed as fans clashed with officers and damaged vehicles and store fronts.
The pattern stretches further back: PSG's 2013 French title ended a 19-year wait, but celebrations turned violent, leaving 30 injured. Similar outbreaks occurred after Algeria's 2019 Africa Cup of Nations victory, a 2021 Arab Cup match between Morocco and Algeria, and in 2022 when both France and Morocco qualified for the World Cup semifinals on the same night.
A celebration that always costs something
The fan zone debate reveals an uncomfortable truth: the city wants to channel the energy, but the police want to control it, and neither side trusts the other's planning. That gap has produced more arrests than any single match in recent years.