PODCAST: Paris - What Really Happened

[tlw content]

This one isn’t about football; it’s about setting the record straight. We’ve spoken to TLW contributors and members about their experiences at the Champions League final in Paris.

 

The travelling reds were victims of the woefully inept organisation, subject to barbaric treatment from the French police, left vulnerable to gang attacks, and were immediately blamed by the authorities. Here’s what people on the ground saw and experienced.

 

 

 

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[Pete]

Shocking behaviour by UEFA and the authorities.  Hope this doesn’t scar all affected too much and glad you’re all home safely (even if your phones are in Algeria!). 
 

There needs to be some serious action taken against the police, the stewards & UEFA. 

[suzy]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Shocking behaviour by UEFA and the authorities.  Hope this doesn’t scar all affected too much and glad you’re all home safely (even if your phones are in Algeria!). 
 

There needs to be some serious action taken against the police, the stewards & UEFA. 

Agree with all of that. Shocking stories in this pod.

[Bjornebye]

Heartbreaking what people went through. 
 

When the police have already decided you’re hooligans before you even land what chance have people got? I hope it’s the last time France see a major football event other than their own shite. 
 

 

[Paul]

I know I’m probably biased, but this is powerful, moving stuff. Without wishing to sound grandiose, I just want to say I feel really proud to be associated with the podcast - and lads - that put this out. Think it’s easily the best we’ve ever done (I played no part in it, by the way). 
 

Fiona’s stuff was very emotional and the stuff Ralph said about never travelling abroad to watch us again just left me seething with the injustice of it all. 
 

This issue has brought the best out of nearly everyone associated with the club, its fans and its press coverage and TLW is no exception. 

[dave u]

Carra and Lineker both RT'd the pod which is great, but also acts as chum in the water for all the knobheads. Really difficult not reacting to them.

[Pete]

38 minutes ago, dave u said:

Carra and Lineker both RT'd the pod which is great, but also acts as chum in the water for all the knobheads. Really difficult not reacting to them.

Cunts are gonna believe what they want.  The UK is an incredibly divided nation right now and something like this involving scousers is a red rag to a bull.   I’ve shared the pod with Mancs (both colours) Newcastle & Arsenal fans.  They’re all appalled at what went on.   You and all involved in the pod should be proud of yourselves for getting the actual truth out there. 

[JohnnyH]

Being at Athens in 2007 pretty much stopped me going to away matches. This seemed like Athens x 100. 
 

I love football, but I hate the shite around it. I just feel so desperately sorry for the people who went there to enjoy themselves and ended up literally in fear for their health. 

[Brownie]

10 hours ago, JohnnyH said:

Being at Athens in 2007 pretty much stopped me going to away matches. This seemed like Athens x 100. 
 

I love football, but I hate the shite around it. I just feel so desperately sorry for the people who went there to enjoy themselves and ended up literally in fear for their health. 

This was nothing like Athens. In Athens the atmosphere was really poor all day and there was an unsavoury element to our crowd. This was basically the same as Madrid but with gobshite Police and poor organisation.

[dave u]

13 hours ago, Pete said:

Cunts are gonna believe what they want.  The UK is an incredibly divided nation right now and something like this involving scousers is a red rag to a bull.   I’ve shared the pod with Mancs (both colours) Newcastle & Arsenal fans.  They’re all appalled at what went on.   You and all involved in the pod should be proud of yourselves for getting the actual truth out there. 

 

They should be appalled by it as it could easily be any of them. That's whats so fucking annoying when you see the twats who would rather just ignore all of the evidence in favour of taking shots at us. The worst is when it's Evertonians. Loads of them will have had friends and family involved. Must be galling for them when so many of their fellow blues are blaming us for what happened.

[Mathewbet1]

So a french-based football organisation is investigating the French police and authorities, hmmmmm we can only wonder what the result will be. They will just come out with the usual shite that no one is really to blame leaving the false narrative of fake tickets as the main cause, when in-effect the police where clearly acting aggressively towards the fans and the organisation (lack of) of the event could have easily led to a much more serious situation. 

[JohnnyH]

1 hour ago, Brownie said:

This was nothing like Athens. In Athens the atmosphere was really poor all day and there was an unsavoury element to our crowd. This was basically the same as Madrid but with gobshite Police and poor organisation.

Sorry, I should clarify. I wasn’t saying there was the scumbag element in Paris that was in Athens. Just the whole treatment by police and negative feelings that come out of a trip that should be brilliant. 

[No2]

I wasn't a going to listen, I knew it would make me angry but I'm glad I did. Fiona's piece is essential listening, the perfect person to paint the picture. The others were great too.

[johnsusername]

There are obviously a few factors here, but two things that have stood out to me from all the French/uefa statements are:

 

- the behaviour of the England fans at the Euros has had an impact on how we've been treated

- the recent pitch invasions in English football has had an impact on how we've been treated.

 

The irony obviously being that Liverpool fans have had nothing to do with either of them. 

 

[Mathewbet1]

 

David Maddock (mirror) from twitter has it nailed: 

 

There is something that stinks about the lies and smears of the French Govt’s cover-up following the shameful behaviour of their police in Paris at the weekend, and suggests they PLANNED to use outlawed tactics against #LFC fans; A thread:
1/12
 

Listening to French Int Minister and Sports Minister double down on lies about #LFC fans, it’s as though they had STUDIED the Thatcher/South Yorks police play-book:
Fans arriving late✅
Thousands of ticketless fans✅
LFC specific threat to order✅
Attacked police✅
2/12

 

That’s no surprise, given Pres Macron has imitated Thatcher’s policies in many areas, including 'iron' policing. He tried to bring in tough new crowd control laws which included kettling and preventing police being filmed in 2020, allowing more brutal treatment of protestors
3/12

 

Those policies were kicked out by lawmakers as unlawful as they were considered too brutal, & not proportionate, but extreme violence has cont. against peaceful protesters from quasi-military police the CRS, and is most violent in Paris under notorious police chief Lallement
4/12

 

Interestingly, the Macron regime also pressed to be allowed to consider football fans as ‘protesters’ under certain circumstances, and have often been accused of creating violence with a vicious approach to policing matches, including this season’s French Cup final. 
5/12

 

Like Thatcher - and increasingly across Europe with Govts extending police powers - Macron tries to control legitimate protest with the implied threat of state violence. Those which face most police brutality are demonstrators, inner city minorities...and football fans
6/12

The UK has actually followed Macron’s lead with some violent treatment of peaceful protesters, after extending policing laws (PCSC bill), but in France, it has led to huge domestic pressure on Macron to open enquiries into police brutality, and a ruling against his new laws.
7/12

 

So what better way to test methods he was barred from introducing than on football fans, and specifically, the despised English ‘hooligans’. The narrative began long before the game - dire warnings of 200k ticketless fans in Paris, analysis stating LFC fans would storm gates
8/12

 

Chillingly, evidence shows beyond doubt LFC fans treated differently to RM fans. LFC illegally kettled from 20,000 down to single lane, Madrid not. LFC gates inexplicably closed, not RM. Neutral testimony states only the calm of fans stopped these methods creating a disaster
9/12

 

It's no leap to listen to Minister Darmanin’s lies (his repeated claim of mass fraud of 40k fake tickets was only 2,500 fakes scanned according to official figures), and hear the disdain for football fans. He justified the police operation as a success “because no one died”
10/12

 

So the French govt & police had the perfect opportunity to test vicious methods they've tried hard to introduce domestically, on a football demographic they felt had no voice, and they created conditions to use them, with illegal - and life-threatening - policing tactics.
11/12

 

Then they lied & lied & lied with impunity afterwards, with disgusting establishment arrogance. It is time to stand up against these liars. In France and here in the UK. All of us, not just LFC fans. It is time to fight back against this horrific abuse of power.
12/12

[Razoray]

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