An investigation into intentional violence in a meeting, with the use or threat of a weapon, in a sports arena, was opened after the attack on Friday evening of a supporter of Olympique de Marseille (OM), subsequently victim of a heart attack during the Nantes-Marseille meeting, the Nantes prosecutor’s office announced on Monday September 4.
“These facts were brought to the attention of the Nantes police station yesterday [Sunday] in the middle of the afternoon, when the wife of this man came to file a complaint,” said the public prosecutor of Nantes, Renaud Gaudeul. The security director of FC Nantes appeared on Monday “at the police station to file a complaint” on behalf of the club, the prosecutor said at the end of the afternoon. The latter “[did not] specify[ed] the legal reason for his complaint and it is not against person[s] named[s]”, he added.
“Some supporters even took selfies in front of the ambulance”
The club said on Sunday that it condemned “in the strongest terms the unacceptable violence committed against an OM supporter family”.
Having come to the Beaujoire stadium with their six-year-old son who was wearing an OM jersey, the couple were attacked during the match by receiving “spitting, insults, and beers thrown in their faces”. Alicia Mahé, the victim’s companion, detailed Saturday on X (formerly Twitter), a story confirmed by several journalists present nearby. “The violence with weapons corresponds to the bottle throwing denounced,” said Mr. Gaudeul.
Suffering from a “heart attack” in the stands, the victim was taken care of by the emergency services, said Ms. Mahé, stressing on BFM-TV / RMC that “some supporters even took selfies in front of the ambulance in which [ her] husband was being resuscitated.”
The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, had expressed on Sunday on X her “solidarity with the family brutally attacked in Nantes for simply supporting her club”.
