Pro-Palestinian Protesters Meet With Heads of French Football Federation About Canceling Israel-France Match
Paris 2024 Olympics – Football – Men’s Group D – Israel vs Paraguay – Parc des Princes, Paris, France – July 27, 2024. Israel fans outside the stadium before the match. Photo: REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
A group of pro-Palestinian activists met with leaders of the French Football Federation (FFF) in Paris on Tuesday night, a day after they protested inside FFF headquarters and barricaded themselves in the building in protest of the upcoming Israel vs. France soccer match in the UEFA Nations League.
For reportedly more than an hour and a half, roughly 50 demonstrators from a collective called “Stop Genocide” demonstrated inside the FFF building on Monday, chanting in French against Israel and holding signs that urged the federation to cancel the soccer game scheduled for Nov. 14. The activists called on the FFF to boycott the Israeli national soccer team from participating in the match because of alleged “war crimes” committed by the state of Israel.
The demonstrators held signs in French and English that said “kick Israel out,” “Israel Criminal FFF Accomplice,” “Sanctions Against Israel!” “No to the France-Israel match,” “FFF ban Israel,” and “Champions League of genocide.” One activist wore a shirt that featured a red handprint and the words “Stop Genocide.”
Israel’s national soccer team, under coach Ron Ben Shimon, is set to face France in the fifth round of League B in the UEFA Nations League next week at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The first match between the teams, which ended in a 4-1 defeat for Israel, took place in Hungary. The game on Nov. 14 will take place in France.
“Soldats colons, foutez le camp”
Plusieurs chants entonnés par des militants pro-palestiniens qui sont venus à la @FFF pour demander l’annulation de la prochaine rencontre de foot France-Israël. En cours à #Paris https://t.co/MCaGSkFXCQ pic.twitter.com/0aaXViyA8b
— Off Investigation (@Offinvestigatio) November 4, 2024
En cours à Paris : des militants pro-palestiniens viennent de pénétrer dans les locaux de la @FFF pour demander l’annulation de la prochaine rencontre France-Israël et dénoncer les violations du droit international par . #Paris #Gaza pic.twitter.com/PQgZUQkzG9
— Off Investigation (@Offinvestigatio) November 4, 2024
On Tuesday night, following the demonstration, a delegation from the “Stop Genocide” collective met with FFF leaders, according to a French-language press release published by the anti-Israel group after the meeting. The group said the federation told them it “understands” how upset the activists feel about the soccer match on Nov. 14 between Israel and France.
“Its leaders even told us that as soon as they had read the draw for the UEFA Nations League competition, they expressed their ‘concerns,’ both in the direction of the European football organization UEFA and the French government,” the collective added. However, the FFF was told by public authorities and UEFA that despite its concerns, it must organize the match. The game will take place as scheduled but with heightened security, the FFF explained.
“[The FFF] publicly stated that the match ‘could’ take place in Saint Denis, at the cost of an ‘extremely reinforced’ police presence. A way of admitting, in his own way, the obvious disturbance of public order that this shameful match represents,” the collective stated.
Nicolas, an activist with the Stop Genocide collective who was present at the FFF meeting, told the French publication Le Parisien there was no way to even move the location of the upcoming soccer match. “They told us that the French team, by contract, had the obligation to play at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis,” he explained.
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