After the meeting between Saint-Etienne and Auxerre during the promotion/relegation play-off between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 at the end of last season, violence occurred at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium. These had involved between 150 and 200 people at the time. According to RMC Sport, the people, identified thanks to the videos of the surveillance cameras deployed in the “Cauldron”, were arrested Monday morning during an operation called “Ultras 42” mobilizing a hundred police officers. According to the deputy prosecutor of the city of Forez, they “Most take responsibility for their actions. » Among these ultras, eleven of them will be tried in corrections on November 16 for the violence committed inside and outside the Stéphane stadium, according to a source relayed by the French sports media. According to the lawyer, Me Laurent Verilhac, it would be, for five of the defendants, members of Magic Fans and Green Angels.
They are prosecuted for “throwing projectiles, illegal entry into a playground, use of street furniture as a projectile, violence with weapons without ITT”. Indeed, on May 29, a few tens of seconds after the fateful penalty shootout lost by the Greens, synonymous with relegation to Ligue 2 for them (1-1, 5-4 on penalties), hundreds of ultras had invaded the pitch to show their dissatisfaction and anger by throwing smoke bombs and using dangerous pyrotechnic devices (such as firework mortars) towards the official stand in particular. According to the advertising department of the Saint-Etienne club, the damage is also estimated at 500,000 euros.
