Tuesday night’s defeat in Marseille proved to be a mess both on and off the pitch.
After Newcastle United suffered in a second-half collapse that saw the Ligue 1 side comeback to win 2-1 after Nick Pope’s moment of madness, fans and observers have reported a number of issues regarding the local police’s treatment of supporters.
In a strong statement released by the club this morning, Newcastle have highlighted the ‘unacceptable treatment of our supporters by police at Stade Vélodrome’, raising a formal complaint with UEFA, Marseille and the French police.
Details of this and some of the distressing scenes are detailed below, including ‘crushing’ in the upper concourse, pepper spray and the excessive use of batons, with Newcastle now formally demanding that this matter is investigated to ensure it does not happen again.
Club statement – Thursday, 27th November
We will be formally raising our concerns with UEFA, Olympique de Marseille and French police in relation to the unacceptable treatment of our supporters by police at Stade Vélodrome following Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League fixture.
Following the final whistle, our supporters were required to remain in the stadium for a period of up to one hour on the instruction of local authorities to ensure their safety when leaving the stadium.
Plans were in place to move 500 supporters at a time, with a police escort to the Metro station for onward travel to Place de la Joliette.
Our supporters were in good spirits despite the disappointing result and waited patiently and without incident during the holdback period.
The post-match operation was observed at close quarters by our stewards and senior staff.
‘Unnecessary and disproportionate force’
Once the first group of supporters was released, the police began using unnecessary and disproportionate force to stop the remainder of our fans from moving any further. This was actioned through a combination of pepper spray, batons and shields, with numerous supporters being indiscriminately assaulted by the police.
Many supporters were visibly distressed, particularly in the upper concourse area of the away sector, where crushing became apparent.
Our staff immediately addressed the matter with the police, however this had limited impact on their excessive tactics.
Fans leaving the stadium rightly shared their distress, frustration and anger with our staff, and we have subsequently received deeply concerning witness reports from supporters who were in attendance.
Supporter safety and welfare should always be of paramount importance, and we strongly condemn the treatment of our supporters by the police during this incident.
Next steps
We will be calling on UEFA, Olympique de Marseille and local authorities to formally investigate this matter to ensure lessons are learned and this behaviour is not repeated.
We are continuing to liaise with the United Kingdom Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) as we gather evidence on behalf of our supporters.
Were you in attendance?
We would like to hear from supporters affected by this incident as we collate as much supporting information as possible. This will also be shared with UEFA, UKFPU and the Football Supporters Europe organisation.