Toulouse. Montpellier supporters try to ransack the Stadium bar, 14 arrests
By Lucie Fraisse
Published on
Update at 3:45 p.m.: two investigations opened
In a press release published in the middle of the afternoon on Monday, October 3, 2022, the public prosecutor Samuel Vuelta Simon indicates that after the arrests linked to the incidents which punctuated the meeting, three Toulouse minors aged 13, 14 and 16 will be summoned to court on Wednesday for having used smoke bombs in the TFC gallery.
Nine other people are accused on Monday in court as part of a comparison on the prior recognition of credit. “The prosecution will request a stadium ban for these defendants,” said the prosecutor.
Two other people are still in police custody, for entry and use of fireworks, but also for acts of violence against the police at the time of their arrest.
Two investigations have been opened: one for acts of willful violence and damage to public utility goods which were committed at the “visitors” refreshment bar (reserved for Montpellier supporters); a second for the introduction and use of explosive devices at the Stadium, in particular in the stands for Toulouse supporters.
“In the two investigations that will continue, the exploitation of video surveillance recordings should make it possible to identify the people who participated in the facts and to exercise the appropriate prosecution”, indicates Samuel Vuelta Simon.
The meeting had been classified as a “risky match” and the prefect of Haute-Garonne had taken preventive security measures. Sunday, October 2, 2022, the Toulouse football club get it Montpellier Herault at the Stadium and incidents broke out during the match.
Attempt to ransack the bar
The match was thus temporarily stopped, shortly before the hour mark. While Toulouse was leading 4 to 1, Hérault supporters slipped outside the Stadium: the CRS pulled out the gas to calm their ardor. But the tear gas fumes reached the stands and the field, forcing the professional football league decide to stop the match for about ten minutes.
In a report published Sunday at the end of the day, the prefecture of Upper Garonne detail :
“Overflows took place at the level of the visitors’ stand, where the police had to intervene and use tear gas to prevent the ransacking of the Stadium bar by Montpellier supporters”.
Fourteen arrests
Furthermore, the prefecture deplores the use of ” numerous pyrotechnic devices but “prohibited in sports arenas”. In total, there were fourteen arrests for possession, transport and use of smoke bombs and non-detonating fireworks.
Étienne Guyot, prefect of Haute-Garonne “condemned” the incidents which marred the match, “actions which contravene the values of sport”.
A meeting will be organized in the prefecture with all the services and partners concerned “so as to learn the lessons of these incidents”.
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