Police ‘aggressive and provocative’ in Paris, Liverpool fans’ groups tell hearing

Paris police were aggressive, provocative and prejudiced against Liverpool supporters from the moment they arrived for the Champions League final in Paris last month, a French parliamentary commission heard on Tuesday.

Addressing the hearing into events in the French captain on 28 May, Liverpool fans’ representatives described the terror of being attacked by police with tear gas and pepper spray on one hand and gangs of local muggers and pickpockets on the other at the Stade de France before and after their match against Real Madrid. Children as young as six were “distressed and traumatised” and feared for their lives, the cross-party committee of senators was told.

The country’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, was accused of lying when he blamed English fans for the chaos and violence outside the match, with Ted Morris, secretary of the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association, who was at the match in a wheelchair, calling for Darmanin to apologise and resign.

Giving evidence, Morris said Liverpool fans were subject to “shocking treatment” and that it was the fans and not police who had prevented a “major catastrophe”. “The authorities should be ashamed,” said Morris. “They [fans] were treated like animals. They were treated with so much contempt.”

Morris, who relayed a series of stories from terrified fans present in Paris, said the unjust accusations against Liverpool supporters were especially injurious as they had opened wounds from the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy. “Mr Darmanin lied and has made our pain and trauma worse. I ask him to have the decency to withdraw his comments and to resign,” he said. “We have known lies for 33 years. To establish the truth today is extremely important for us. Much more important