A brief altercation between fans mars the France-Israel football match despite heavy security after the violence in Amsterdam

PARIS — There was a brief altercation between a small number of fans at the start of Thursday’s Nations League football match between France and Israel, despite heavy security at the stadium, a week after violence broke out in Amsterdam over the visit of an Israeli club team.

About 10 minutes after the match started as scheduled at 8:45 p.m. local time, a scuffle broke out in the upper part of the stands behind one of the goals, with some involved having Israeli flags draped over their backs. It was not clear what caused the altercation and security intervened after about a minute.

The match ended in a 0–0 draw without further incident at Stade de France. However, the Israeli national anthem was whistled by some fans as the players lined up, and Israeli players were sometimes jeered when given the ball.

Minutes before the final whistle, he could hear chants of “Israel, Israel” from visiting fans.

French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police and security personnel had been deployed in and around the stadium, while another 1,500 were on public transport.

Several buses carrying Israeli fans arrived with a police escort and some waved flags at the stadium. Only about 16,600 of the 80,000 tickets were sold, while about 150 Israeli supporters attended.

The Parisian authorities have been on high alert after the violence in Amsterdam before and after the Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Dutch authorities said fans from both sides were involved in the unrest. The attacks on Maccabi fans caused outrage and were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.

“What we have learned from Amsterdam is that we must be present in public spaces, even far away from the stadium,” Nuñez told French news channel France Info on Thursday.

A few hours before the match, a pro-Palestinian demonstration drew several hundred people to a square in Saint-Denis to protest the match.

The Israeli team bus arrived at the stadium shortly after 7:00 PM local time. About an hour before kick-off, Nuñez visited the stadium’s video surveillance facilities with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.

Three months after hosting the Olympic closing ceremony, the atmosphere has changed from festive to anxious. French President Emmanuel Macron and Retailleau were present, along with former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.

“We will not give in to anti-Semitism anywhere. And violence, including in the French Republic, will never prevail, nor will intimidation,” Macron told BFM TV before the match.

The low number of visiting fans on Thursday came after Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sporting and cultural events, especially Thursday’s match.

Retailleau told French news channel TF1 earlier this week that exceptional measures were justified, despite no official threats having been received.

The elite tactical unit of the French National Police, known as RAID, was in the stadium and a number of plainclothes police mingled with fans. There was also heavy surveillance in Paris, including on Jewish places of worship and schools.

“There is no way we will risk seeing a repeat of the dramatic events, of the manhunt, that we saw in Amsterdam,” Retailleau said, adding that postponing or moving the game elsewhere was ruled out.

In AmsterdamAccording to Mayor Femke Halsema, a number of Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and chanted anti-Arab slogans, while some men carried out ‘hit and run’ attacks on people they believed were Jews.

After the match, parts of a large group of Maccabi supporters armed with sticks ran around “destroying things”, according to a 12-page report on the violence by Amsterdam authorities.

There were also “rioters, who moved in small groups on foot, by scooter or by car and quickly attacked Maccabi fans before disappearing,” the report said.

Protests broke out in Paris on Wednesday evening against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel.

Nine years ago, Stade de France was one of several locations during the November 13 terrorist attacks that killed 130 people. France was playing Germany that evening when two explosions occurred outside the stadium.

AP sports writer Samuel Petrequin and Associated Press writer Tom Nouvian contributed to this report.