A few hours before the final between PSG and OL, classified as high risk by the prefecture, violent clashes between supporters broke out at the Fresnes toll booth.
Clashes are underway between OL and PSG supporters and “towards law enforcement” at a motorway toll near Arras and two buses caught fire, two hours before the Coupe de France final in Lille, we learned on Saturday from a source close to the matter.
The incidents took place at the Fresnes-lès-Montauban toll station (Pas-de-Calais), around sixty kilometers from Lille. There is no “for the moment no victims”, said this source. During the day, Parisian supporters, but especially Lyon supporters, animated the streets of downtown Lille in a good-natured atmosphere, noted an AFP journalist. An impressive police force is deployed in the city.
The Northern prefecture had put in place several administrative measures as part of this meeting classified as very high risk. Supporters of OL and PSG are therefore prohibited from traveling “outside the spaces reserved for them” near the stadium until Sunday 4 a.m.
The prefecture had also asked the supporters of each team to each use a different metro line, with a different metro stop, in order to get to the stadium and to avoid the risk of overflows as much as possible. Another ban: consumption of alcohol on public roads and terraces in Lezennes, Lille and Villeneuve d’Ascq “in a glass or metal container” until Sunday 4 a.m.
The prefect of the Hauts-de-France region and the Nord department, Bertrand Gaume, called on Friday in a press release to “the collective and individual responsibility of supporters, as well as all those attending the match, so that everyone can enjoy this festive and friendly event in complete safety”.
