Eight buses of Marseille supporters were targeted during the night from Saturday to Sunday by “heavy projectiles” and stopped in the middle of the A47 motorway where some of their passengers injured a motorist, announced the Loire prefecture.
Ces «graves incidents» took place around 1:30 a.m. near Saint-Etienne, while the eight buses were returning to Marseille after OM’s victory over Clermont (5-1), specifies the prefecture in a press release.
Of the “heavy projectiles» ont «probably» were thrown at vehicles from a bridge overlooking the highway, she adds. “Marseille supporters then allegedly got out of the buses and damaged a vehicle, injuring its driver, before leaving».
This motorist was injured in the face and transported by firefighters to the Saint-Etienne University Hospital, said police sources, who reported that a “large number» supporters had gotten off the buses, some armed with baseball bats.
Two open investigations
When they arrived, the police found pieces of rubble, mortars and broken windows, but the coaches had left.
The police caught up with them further away, carried out identity checks but did not make any arrests at this stage, according to another police source.
The Saint-Etienne public prosecutor’s office indicated that it had opened two separate investigations, one for violence with weapons in meetings with premeditation, concerning the throwing of projectiles, the other for degradation in meetings with weapons, for reprisals.
In his press release, the prefect of the Loire, Alexandre Rochatte “deplores and condemns with the greatest firmness the unacceptable violence and degradation (…)” Who “could have had dramatic consequences».
2024-03-03 15:22:36
#buses #targeted #heavy #projectiles #supporters #armed #baseball #bats
