Police make two arrests after a brief fight between fans during the highly secured France-Israel football match

PARIS (AP) — French police officers have subsequently made two arrests a short fan fight Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said this on Friday during a Nations League football match between France and Israel.

Stewards “immediately contained” the scuffle at the Stade de France national stadium on Thursday evening, Nunez said.

“There was the beginning of a fight. We were extremely reactive, so the incident was brought under control very quickly,” the police chief told broadcaster France 2.

Officers immediately took one person into custody and arrested the other after the game, using video evidence, Nunez said.

About 10 minutes after the match started as scheduled at 8:45 p.m. Paris time, skirmishes broke out in the upper part of the stand, behind one of the goals. Some of those involved had 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 incidents in the stadium.

Police deployed thousands of officers, beefing up security violence in Amsterdam before and after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

According to Dutch authorities, fans from both sides were involved in the unrest. Attacks on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.