Reuters
Police officers protect themselves from a flare on the Champs Elysees avenue after Paris St Germain won the Champions League. [Source: Reuters]
More than 500 people were arrested by police during the Champions League final celebrations in France, and two people were reported dead and 192 injured, the interior ministry said as further festivities were planned on Sunday.
Wild celebrations erupted across the French capital and beyond on Saturday night after Paris St Germain crushed Italian opponents Inter Milan to win the Champions League for the first time.
The interior ministry’s provisional assessment on Sunday morning was that 559 people had been arrested, including 491 in Paris, which led to 320 people being placed in police custody, 254 of them in Paris.
There was one fatal accident when a young man in his twenties died in a collision with a vehicle, police chief Laurent Nunez told reporters, while in the southwestern city of Dax, a 17-year-old died from stab wounds, French media reported.
On the boutique-lined Champs Elysees avenue, bus shelters were smashed and projectiles hurled at riot police, who fired tear gas and water cannon to push back surging crowds as thousands of supporters who descended on the area.
The interior ministry on Sunday reported hundreds of fires, including more than 200 vehicles burned. Some 22 members of the security forces and seven firefighters were harmed.
Nunez warned that more skirmishes could occur on Sunday as PSG will parade on the Champs Elysees before celebrating the title with their fans at the Parc des Princes stadium.
Paris had deployed 5,400 officers in anticipation of celebrations following a PSG win, Nunez had said on Friday.
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