The knee down symbol will wait. The players of the France and Germany team did not kneel before the kickoff of the shock of group F, this Tuesday evening at Euro 2021. “Apparently, it is planned “, Had slipped the blue captain Hugo Lloris at a press conference on Monday, from Munich. But, question of protocol, time or choice, the French finally remained standing before starting the meeting. The explanation could come from the interruption of the protocol linked to the arrival of a parachutist on the ground, in order to campaign in favor of the environmental organization Greenpeace.
The France team knelt in the warm-up friendly match against Wales (3-0), but not against Bulgaria (3-0) a week later. For more than a year, many athletes and teams have been kneeling on the ground in protest against discrimination. A gesture in particular launched after the death of the American George Floyd, killed by a police officer in May 2020 in the United States.
The English and the Belgians did it
However, the symbol is not used everywhere on the sport planet. The English, already very involved in the Premier League, repeated it for their debut at the Euro against Croatia (1-0). Belgium, before playing Russia (3-0), also. But this sometimes provokes a hostile reaction from some spectators, as was the case in St. Petersburg.
In France, part of the political class, from the right to the far right, also took up the subject on Tuesday, criticizing the idea of the Blues even before its execution. “Black Lives Matter, it’s a drama (…) which happened in the United States”, “with the American police”, not with the French police, who “never had these abuses”, affirmed on Europe 1, Thierry Mariani, RN candidate for regional Paca.
At the microphone of RMC Sport on Tuesday, Noël Le Graët, the president of the FFF, defended his group: “I find that it is a recognition in relation to an injustice (…) As far as we are concerned, there is no is no problem. “Roxana Maracineanu, the Deputy Minister in charge of Sports, guest of LCI, was favorable to the knee on the ground:” The players and the France team wish to express themselves on this subject, they have the right and I encourage them to do so. make. “
