“I am an immigrant and I always supported immigration, but what we experienced last night was a horror,” the Argentine businessman based in Spain wrote on his Twitter account. “Hundreds of African Parisians attacking fans,” he described
Varsavsky’s messages about the incidents in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris
“What we are experiencing is not only a conflict between North Africans [ N. of theA: North Africans) and French, but between North Africans who love Europe and North Africans who hate Europe,” Varsavsky wrote in a tweet, referring to the incidents that took place before and after the Champions League final match in the Stade de France, in the town of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris.
His version thus differs from that given by the French authorities for which the incidents were due to the fact that many British fans had false tickets and the attempt of other supporters to sneak into the stadium.
“People can’t imagine what that was like. They were armies of raiders hunting us. There were fights, robberies, robberies, charges. A scary movie”: was the testimony of a Spanish fan of the portal 20minutos”.
Soccer Football – Fans gather in Madrid for the Champions League Final – Liverpool v Real Madrid – Madrid, Spain – May 29, 2022 Police officers clash with Real Madrid fans after they won the Champions League Final REUTERS/Vincent West
Martín Varsavsky, Argentine entrepreneur naturalized Spanish,experienced something very similar: “I am an immigrant in Spain and I always supported immigration but what we experienced last night in Paris was a horror for our family and all the fans. Hundreds of African Parisians attacking the fans laughing at us and see us in panic.”
“It was racism, against Europeans”, he concluded.
Some comments on the networks highlighted a better integration of immigrants in Spain in contrast to what would be happening in France. “The #14 win for #RealMadrid has been fantastic. But for those of us who have been to Paris, it has also been a very revealing day; one of those occasions when you realize how well we do many things in Spain… and how everything can be spoiled,” said a Twitter user whose message was retweeted by Varsavsky.
< p class=”paragraph”>He also highlighted the contrast between the two countries: “After experiencing the racist attacks against us and the fans of Liverpool and Madrid those of us who live in Spain are lucky. We have to protect our country from racial hatred.”
The businessman also said that, with his family, “after the robbery”, they went to take refuge “with a policeman” who told them “that he was an Arab and that he was ashamed of his people.”
The town of Saint-Denis, located north of the French capital, is a district with a very high proportion of the immigrant population, mostly from North Africa,< /b> usually the one that suffers the most from unemployment and low income.
The Stade de France is located there. On the day of the final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, the large influx of people, the weak security device and the poor organization on the part of UEFA, added to the social tensions typical of that “difficult” district were the triggers of a situation that some fans described as “a mousetrap”.
The area was filled with pickpockets and snatcherswho made their harvest of mobile phones, wallets and purses -and incidentally also tickets to the stadium-. The scenes were repeated at the exit of the stadium, when the attendees found themselves surrounded by gangs of people who attacked them to strip them of their remaining belongings, grope the women and frighten the children, to finally finding their cars, parked nearby or even inside car parks, vandalized.
VIDEO: The incidents outside the Stade de France
Incidents Champion League Paris
“It must be a tremendous impotence to see how your country becomes such a dangerous place and that nobody has done anything to stop it”, wrote another supporter of Real Madrid.
The two women from the group of five Spanish friends who traveled to see the final and gave their testimony at 20minutes did not enter the stadium but they sat down in a cafe to wait for the other three to leave. When they began to see themselves surrounded by “hundreds of people from the neighborhood” looking at them, “stalking all the fans, looking for something to steal”, they called one of the men who was inside and asked him to leave the stadium. “We were very scared.”
The one who went looking for them described the scene as follows: “You saw streams of people like this going to the stadium, stealing, holding up, with cutters to cut bags. She couldn’t believe what was happening, it was hundreds and hundreds. I got to the subway and people were terrified down there, imagine what was happening there.”
Shortly after the incidents, French soccer star Thierry Henry, considered by many to be one of the best players in the history of the Premier League, became a trend on Twitter. The reason was that a few days before the match, the famous striker had issued a warning on television about the place where the final between Liverpool and Real Madrid would be played: “Be careful, the stadium is in Saint Denis, not in Paris. Believe me, they wouldn’t want to be in Saint Denis..” A warning turned prediction.
Thierry Henri and his warning about Saint-Denis
“I continue to support immigration but it has to be from people who support the European values of democracy, respect and freedom”, reflected Varsavsky, as a conclusion to what happened. Thought with which many French agree, concerned about the growing social conflict in their country.