Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League Victory Marred by Violence: One Dead, Hundreds Detained Across France

A night of celebration turns violent

Paris Saint-Germain secured their second consecutive UEFA Champions League title on Saturday night, defeating Arsenal on penalties in a dramatic final held in Budapest, Hungary. The victory sparked immediate celebrations across France, with an estimated 20,000 fans gathering on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. However, the festivities were soon marred by violent clashes between rioters and police, leading to what Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described as "absolutely unacceptable" scenes of vandalism and disorder.

The vast majority came out to celebrate and everything went very well. But some individuals, and these are not PSG fans, but people who don't even watch the matches, came out to create incidents and disorder.

Casualties and arrests

The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed one fatality: a 24-year-old man who died after crashing his scooter into concrete blocks on an exit ramp from the Périphérique ring road near Porte Maillot, not far from the Parc des Princes stadium. Another person is in a coma with stab wounds sustained during a brawl, and a total of 219 people were injured nationwide, eight of them seriously. Among the injured were 57 police officers and gendarmes. Authorities detained 780 people across France, with 457 held in custody. Nearly 300 of those detentions occurred in Paris alone.

We will not tolerate any excess, no disorder. We will continue to exercise the utmost firmness.

Widespread disorder

Rioting was reported in approximately 15 French cities. In Paris, smaller groups vandalized shops, set cars ablaze, and launched fireworks and flares at police. One group even attempted to storm a police station in the 8th arrondissement before being dispersed. Seven officers were injured during the clashes. The violence marks a significant escalation from the previous year's celebrations, when 201 people were injured and over 500 arrests were made following PSG's first title.

Planned celebrations proceed

Despite the overnight violence, Interior Minister Nuñez confirmed that the planned victory parade would go ahead as scheduled on Sunday afternoon. More than 22,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed in the capital, where up to 100,000 people were expected at the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower. The team's bus was set to travel to the Élysée Palace for a reception with President Emmanuel Macron at 6 p.m., followed by a celebration at the Parc des Princes stadium from 7:30 p.m.

We had some gatherings in a festive atmosphere everywhere on the national territory. The situation remained globally under control despite some excesses, regularly quelled by the forces of order.