Eventful evening in perspective in Saint-Denis: the Stade de France hosts an unexpected poster in the final of the Coupe de France, between the defending champion, Nantes, and the promoted Toulouse who compete against a background of social tension and under high security vigilance , Saturday (9 p.m.).
The yellow of the Canaries and the purple of Toulouse FC will fill the stands of the Ile-de-France enclosure, where 78,000 spectators are expected, including tens of thousands of supporters of the two teams, who no doubt know that they may not have won’t be lucky enough to relive another final anytime soon.
The surprise poster between these two formations of the second part of the table in the championship is also adorned with a rather heavy extra-sporting context, almost a year after the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in the same stadium. , which had turned into a security fiasco.
“While whistles are part of a certain folklore at the Stade de France, the President of the Republic has always respected the tradition of saluting players which he has reinstated. […] The Head of State will therefore greet the players, as he has always done since 2017, before they enter the lawn. »
The French president will also not hand over the cup to the winner from the lawn, as has been the practice for three years and the Covid-19 crisis. The prefect of police, Laurent Nuñez, clarified, Friday evening, having himself “imposed” that the trophy be awarded to the winner “in the gallery”, in particular because of the risk of invasion of the field.
The trade unions of Seine-Saint-Denis had planned to distribute red cards and whistles to spectators around the Stade de France so that they show their rejection of the pension reform. A prohibition order was taken due in particular to the “huge flow of spectators” expected, said the prefect of police. This decree was canceled by the administrative court on Saturday. The prefect of police did not provide “sufficient elements concerning the risks of disturbances to public order or specific difficulties in his missions of maintaining order”, in the face of demonstrators who had only announced a “simple distribution of leaflets against the pension reform by a limited number of people”, the court pointed out.
The prefect “takes note of the ordinance”, indicated the prefecture of police to AFP, specifying to have planned “in any case a device adapted to ensure a calm access of the spectators to the stadium”. The distribution of red cards and whistles is therefore finally authorized. The operation began around 5:30 p.m. However, the security agents confiscated the whistles and cards before entering the stadium.
�� Goal against his @prefpolice camps and a victory for the union organization! �� The assembly ban is suspended! And once again… we watch and we win with @David_dvdv, @LDH_Fr @syndicatavocats @UnionSolidaires @SMagistrature!
The operation to distribute whistles and red cards against Emmanuel Macron at the call of the CGT began in front of the exit of the Saint-Denis – Porte de Paris metro station near the Stade de France pic.twitter.com/Vhryc8lTom
The CGT said it feared, on Friday, “live censorship” in the event of whistles against Emmanuel Macron. Claiming to rely on press reports, the union said in a statement that “any whistles and boos directed at the head of state that may occur during or at the end of the meeting” would be “cut on air “.
This Saturday, France Télévisions reacted and assured that it “will ensure the best broadcast of this Coupe de France final, the most factual and faithful to what will happen in the stadium”.