Where The Story Turns
PARIS — The scene was familiar enough to feel like a tradition, even if nobody treats it that way. Paris Saint-Germain reached their second consecutive Champions League final and third since 2020 on Wednesday, defeating Bayern Munich to set up a May 30 showdown with Arsenal in Budapest. Within hours, 127 people found themselves in custody across the Paris metropolitan area, including 107 inside the city itself.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told Europe 1 radio that 11 rioters were injured — one seriously, the result of handling a mortar — and 23 police officers sustained minor injuries. The clashes spread from outside PSG's Parc des Princes stadium to the Champs-Élysées, where groups attempted to block the Paris ring road before being dispersed.
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
The Stakes In Plain Sight
"I condemn this strongly," Nuñez said. "There are always hundreds of individuals responsible for these excesses during these festivities who look to clash with law enforcement."
The minister praised police for preventing property damage and potential looting, though he acknowledged security would be ramped up for the final in Hungary. He also appeared to take issue with recently elected Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire, who announced creation of a fan zone in Paris for the match without first consulting police. "We need to see where this fan zone will be organized," Nuñez added.
The Question Left Open
These incidents have become something of an unwanted tradition. When PSG won the Champions League last year, more than 500 arrests were made across France. A man in his 20s was killed in Paris when his scooter was struck by a car during celebrations. The trouble simply continued the next day — Paris police arrested 148 people after fans clashed with officers and smashed cars and store windows following the club's loss in the 2020 final to Bayern. Even title celebrations closer to home have turned violent: when PSG clinched the French league in 2013 — ending a 19-year wait — festivities were cut short after several hours of fighting between fans and riot police left 30 people injured.
The pattern extends beyond football. The Champs-Élysées saw chaos after Algeria's Africa Cup of Nations win in 2019, again in 2021 following a Morocco-Algeria match in the Arab Cup, and in 2022 when both France and Morocco qualified for the World Cup semifinals on the same day.