The match between Ajaccio and OM took place on Saturday in a climate of high tension with incidents between supporters of the two clubs before kick-off and the attack on a journalist from France 3 after the match, noted an AFP journalist. Before the meeting counting for the 38th and last day of Ligue 1, won 1 to 0 by the Corsican club, around thirty Ajaccio supporters attacked Marseille fans, who had just arrived in the closed parking lot reserved for them at the Francois-Coty stadium. They hurled racist insults at them, including monkey cries.
The two groups of supporters then threw projectiles, stones, batteries and fireworks at each other. OM stewards and Ajaccio club security intervened and relative calm returned. CRS were also deployed along the Marseille parking lot and the meeting took place without any notable incident.
“These incidents, it’s sad […] It was simmering, there were invectives on social networks”, regretted the coach of Ajaccio Olivier Pantaloni after a match without stake for the two clubs, Ajaccio was already relegated to L2 and OM guaranteed to finish 3rd. “It’s never nice to stop supporters from coming but, if possible, it can be avoided by banning travel. Maybe we have to go through that,” he added. At the end of the evening, the prefecture of Corse-du-Sud did not report any injuries or arrests. The emergency services nevertheless entered the Marseille parking lot to treat an OM supporter in the middle of the second period.
According to the prefecture, the Marseille supporters had to leave the stadium late to be taken to the fan-zone where they had been gathered during the day, on a beach near Ajaccio airport. Those who had no accommodation had to be taken to a multi-purpose hall transformed into a dormitory. A France 3 journalist was assaulted by Marseille fans while parked at a gas station near the stadium. He was taken care of by the emergency services “for facial wounds”, noted an AFP journalist. His reporting equipment was damaged.
On Friday, incidents had already opposed supporters, especially near a hotel where Marseille residents were staying. They had four minor injuries. The mayor of the city, Stéphane Sbraggia, had asked Friday evening for the cancellation of the match so that the supporters, most of whom were due to arrive on Saturday, did not “expose themselves to a risk of violence which is already present and which could take a uncontrollable extent”.
