Senegal’s historic triumph over Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations final sent waves of celebration far beyond the stadium. However, in several parts of France, the festive mood quickly spiraled into unrest, prompting authorities to intervene as public order was disrupted.
Supporters gathered in large numbers across the Paris region, as well as in cities like Lyon and Avignon, creating scenes of both joy and disorder. Roads were blocked, fireworks were launched into the air, and tensions rose as police moved in to restore calm.
Police Response and Arrests Follow Unrest in Senegal
According to local authorities, security forces acted swiftly to contain the disturbances. In the process, 63 individuals were detained, while 14 officers suffered minor injuries during the operation.
An Interior Ministry spokesperson said,
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔.”
𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅, “𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔, 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕.”
By the end of the night, calm was largely restored, though the dramatic scenes off the pitch mirrored the intensity of Senegal’s title-winning performance on it.
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