Paris welcomes PSG Champions League winners amid tight security

Paris is ready to welcome Paris Saint-Germain players after they won their second straight Champions League title. The celebrations in the city will happen under heavy security following a night that saw some unrest.

PSG defeated Arsenal 4-3 in a penalty shootout on Saturday night in Budapest, Hungary, after the match ended 1-1 after extra time.

Celebrations took place all over France into the night. But the parties faced issues like clashes with police, burglary, vandalism, a deadly road accident, and hundreds of arrests, according to authorities.

On Sunday morning, city workers were busy cleaning up streets filled with broken glass, damaged bus stops, trash bins, and burnt vehicles. Some bicycles were also overturned.

Security officials assured the public on Sunday that there would be tight security for the parade. The PSG players were expected to appear at Champs-de-Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower, drawing tens of thousands of fans.

Many PSG supporters were already gathered, waving flags and wearing PSG jerseys. The team arrived late in the afternoon from Budapest.

“We’re still riding yesterday’s high, so we want to keep the party going,” said 25-year-old Abou, a long-time PSG fan.

As fans chanted “Paris, Paris,” they moved through security checkpoints, eager to get near a stage where the players would appear, with songs like “We Are the Champions” playing in the background.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez promised a strong police presence during the celebrations. He warned there would be fines for anyone obstructing traffic on the Paris ring road.

Nearly 6,000 police and gendarmes were deployed to ensure safety during the festivities, including a visit to the Elysee Palace by President Emmanuel Macron before the team returned to their Parc de Princes stadium.

Nunez said that 780 people were arrested across France during the overnight celebrations. He noted an increase in the use of fireworks aimed at police, resulting in injuries to 57 officers and 219 participants, with eight seriously hurt.

The Paris public prosecutor’s office reported the death of a young man in his twenties after a crash on a ring road exit ramp while riding his motocross bike.

A group of supporters had blocked the ring road, stopping traffic and letting off flares, as stated by an AFP photographer.

Another young man was seriously hurt in a knife attack in Paris, allegedly over a robbery, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Nunez mentioned that thefts and lootings occurred in about 15 cities across France, and violence was reported in 71 municipalities.

The mayor of Paris’s 8th arrondissement, where 20,000 people gathered after PSG’s victory, called for “zero gatherings” on the Champs-Elysees to prevent more violence.

On Saturday night, the Champs-Elysees and its surroundings turned from a celebration spot into a site of urban conflict, according to a town hall statement.

“Since it has become impossible to celebrate a match without riots, the only sensible response is a new rule: ‘zero gatherings’,” the statement demanded.

Nunez rejected this idea, saying it would “tie up almost half of the security deployment.”

Shops boarded up their windows before the match to avoid a repeat of last year’s disturbances when youths looted stores on the Champs-Elysees and other areas. Hundreds were arrested then.

The incidents led to criticism from politicians on both the right and left. Marine Le Pen, a three-time far-right presidential candidate, posted on X that “only in France does a football club’s victory spark riots.” Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the hard-left France Unbowed stated, “We cannot be satisfied with how last night’s event was managed and organized by the government.”