Emmanuel Macron will attend the France-Israel football match at the Stade de France on Thursday in a gesture of “fraternity and solidarity” after attacks on Jewish fans in Amsterdam last week.
Thousands of extra police will be on duty for the game taking place against a backdrop of high tension caused by the conflict in Gaza.
The Elysée said the president’s presence on Thursday aimed to “show his entire and full support for the French team as he does every match” but also “send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable acts of antisemitism that followed the match in Amsterdam”.
Five people needed hospital treatment and up to 30 were injured in what the city mayor described as “hit-and-run” attacks in Amsterdam after a match between the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and hosts Ajax, with police making more than 60 arrests.
Authorities said the Israeli victims were chased and beaten by youths on mopeds after social media calls to target Jews. Maccabi fans were also filmed attacking local people, burning a Palestinian flag and chanting racist anti-Arab slogans.
The Paris police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, said the game in Paris was “high-risk” and security would be “extremely reinforced”. He said the arrangements were highly unusual for a national team match.
Nuñez said police had not demanded a limit on the number of fans allowed inside the stadium. The French football federation said the number of tickets on sale had reached about 20,000, a quarter of the stadium’s capacity.
Even with the reduced ticket sales, between 4,000 and 5,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilised, compared with a maximum of 1,300 for a French national team match in a sold-out stadium. They will be deployed inside and outside the Stade de France, on public transport and in Paris. In addition, 1,600 security staff have been drafted in for the game. An elite police unit has been assigned to protect the Israeli team.
Nuñez said: “The [interior] minister has made available to me the resources of the internal security force, which will enable us to be extremely reactive and prevent any excesses, any disturbances to public order, either during the match, or in the immediate vicinity of the match, or on the route of spectators who will be going to the match.”
Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, said the attacks there had been carried out by “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” leaving at least five people in hospital. Israel sent planes to evacuate the fans after the violence.
Amsterdam’s police chief, Peter Holla, said there had been “incidents on both sides” and that Maccabi fans tore down a Palestinian flag from the facade of a building in the city centre, vandalised a taxi and shouted anti-Palestine insults.
The Israeli authorities have advised supporters not to attend the match in France and said Israelis abroad should avoid “recognisable Israeli or Jewish symbols”.
“The National Security Council recommends that Israelis abroad act with precaution … especially during the coming week, to completely avoid travelling to sports meetings and cultural events involving Israelis, especially to the upcoming match of the Israeli team in Paris,” the Israeli authorities said in a statement.
“Groups that want to attack Israelis have been identified in a number of European cities … at the time of the planned match of the Israeli national team, the Israeli National Security Council said on Sunday. It named Brussels, a number of British cities, Amsterdam and Paris.
