"MAYHEM! Simon Jordan REACTS to PSG v Barcelona GOING AHEAD despite RIOTS and LOOTING in Paris!
PSG vs Barcelona goes ahead amid Paris riots as talkSPORT guests discuss security and whether football can ease tensions
The show discusses PSG versus Barcelona going ahead while riots spread across Paris and France. French journalist Erik Bielderman says security should keep the game itself low-risk but fears trouble after crowds disperse; Simon Jordan warns the match could amplify unrest, while Jim White hopes football can have a positive effect.
- Paris is quiet today and there should be no trouble before or during the game; the tricky part could come after the match when crowds disperse through Paris and the suburbs — There are 800 police around the stadium, 1,200 private security staff inside, and reserve security units; a curfew sits alongside fans travelling to the game, making post-match routes complicated
- There is a political agenda behind the riots, aimed at making French society collapse — He says far-left troublemakers and young people from the suburbs are attacking shops, police and public monuments, and burning public buildings
- The game may not defuse the situation and could even catalyze something worse — A crowd gathered in one place amplifies messages and noise, and dispersing people across Paris's suburbs could put them in difficult situations
- Riots inside the stadium are unlikely, though some fans may bring political flags to support the rioters — Tickets were bought in advance by real fans who fear losing their season tickets, and private security removed political flags at a previous PSG game
- The core of the protest and violence will not be around the game; the main risk is the movement of crowds afterwards — He is confident before and during the game, but tens of thousands dispersing by metro could meet far from the Parc des Princes and go on the rampage
- Nothing major should happen in midweek; the next focus is Saturday, and police can now deploy enough numbers — He says the rioters have an agenda for Saturday, the government was caught short by poor intelligence last weekend, and more police are now deployed
- Football may have arrived at just the right time and could have a positive effect — He admits it sounds crazy to say, but still hopes the PSG-Barcelona match will be a great game and shift attention
Jim White and Simon Jordan are joined by French football journalist Erik Bielderman to discuss PSG vs Barcelona taking place despite major violence between rioters and police in Paris. Subscribe: https://youtube.com/c/talkSPORT Enjoyed this YouTube video? 😍 🖥️ talkSPORT's Website: https://talksport.com/ 📲 talkSPORT's Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkSPORT 📷 talkSPORT's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talksport/?hl=en 👤 talkSPORT's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/talkSPORT/ 📱 talkSPORT's Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talksport ? 🔴 Download the talkSPORT app HERE! - https://talksport.com/apps/ 🔎 Want to see if you feature on our YouTube channel? Check out our Best talkSPORT callers playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFVMnSsi04LGLa9pS9xDvme-Gjmlu2 talkSPORT PremierLeague
Transcript
Paris Sanjam up against Barcelona in the Champions League. But of course, this comes at a time when Paris and the rest of France uh has major major disturbance problems throughout the country. Violence broke out across the country over the weekend. Demonstrations against conditions in schools. The cost of living turned into riots with it seemed thousands attacking the police in streets in various major cities of the country. So far it's reckoned around 2 and a half thousand arrests have been made. The police in France overnight have been fighting have been um operating curfews in parts of central Paris and other cities. And that is how it's going to stay. So what about tonight PSG against Barcelona? I'm delighted to say, Simon, we're joined by a man who gives us a lot of his time, one of the most respected journalists working in France. He works for Leip, Eric Bodman. Eric, good morning to you. Um, how would you at first describe the atmosphere in the city in which you work, Paris? How would you describe it? >> So good morning to you. If I do describe today, I must say uh it's very quiet. Um we are going to the game tonight uh with 800 uh police uh troops around the stadium. We'll have 1,200 security private services from Paris inside the stadium. um more companies of uh we call them CS uh rep Republican companies of security will be in reserve if there is any any trouble. So at the game before the game during the game we don't expect or we don't fear any trouble then after the game when the crowd will go through tube and we'll go to the central of Paris where on Saturday but mainly on Sunday was all over France on Sunday was central Paris where there is the connection of all the suburbs going through the different uh suburbian location that might uh tonight a new problem even if there is a curfew but you can't have a curfew and let the people going to the stadium in the meantime. So tonight after the game might be a bit tricky. >> I see. Um Eric, with all your experience, can you describe what you witnessed over the weekend? World Cup winner Emanuel Pati on this show last week said, "Be careful Saturday. Watch out what happens in Paris on Saturday and other cities in the country." He told us, Eric, that the country was going to explode. What What did you make of what you witnessed? Have you ever seen anything like it? >> Um, I do back uh the major words of Emanuel Put. uh we haven't seen uh same things uh since uh officially I would say 1968 when it was meant to the French so-called revolution of the youth uh against the I would say the old tradition of uh of French burgundi but three years ago when um a a young guy who was trying to escape the police and was a very dangerous uh behavior was killed uh by a policeman. There was riots all over France and it was exactly the same story. So what have happened this time is that it's more and more people going to the streets and because we are close to the uh presidential election the cop the core of farleft rioters plus the thousands of suburbians people uh young people coming for destroying places taking uh in the shops was killing in the shops. Yeah. >> Facing the the police and also going to the public uh public official monuments uh whatever it is um the city hall or whatever it is uh the office of tourism in Leon which is a 19th century monument. They burned it. They burn it for craziness but also some political issues behind it to make the French society collapsing. There is there is an agenda behind it. >> There's an agenda be behind it. Simon is with me Eric as always. Hi Simon. >> Hi there Eric. >> Simon many people might suggest well I tell you what you need at a time like this something to diffuse all this >> and a wonderful football match like PSG Barcelona might just do the trick >> possibly. I mean, it could be used to catalyze something even worse because if you've got a spectacle where people are accumulating in one area and you want to make as much noise as you possibly can, as we've seen by people that own football clubs, everything they say and do gets amplified. Hopefully, that won't be the case. I think Eric has described the scene in such a way that it's unlikely to be the case because of the security measures. What happens then when you start to distribute people around all the various suburbs of Paris, you might find themselves in difficult situations. Are you is there an expectation of a large influx of Barcelona fans coming into the capital? uh 2000 uh which is quite usual. Um there is no bit bitterness between the fans and the rivalry between there is rivalry in terms of the two clubs. They they are the best enemies. But in terms of fans, u the French police uh which uh sometimes some make some mistake like uh last week in terms of numbers uh 10,000 when we were expecting maybe 60 70,000 in France uh to to give the security but they said that this game is number two on the five degrees of uh dangerous game. So uh this the the the sorry the the fear is not on the game and is not too much inside the stadium. Even if we expect some uh fans to come with uh uh how do you say in English this uh where where you write uh uh political statements. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. They will come with flags uh to back uh the riers maybe to go against the police, but it did happen last week with the last game of Paris Ajama and the private security of the of Parisa threw them away with the with the the politician flags. So we might expect this to happen but we don't expect riots inside the stadium because the tickets have been bought uh months ago, weeks ago by uh people who are uh >> by real football fans. >> They are they are true fans even if they can be loers but they they know that if they get stuck on that they will forever will not have their season ticket available. I was going to ask you given that you sort of touched upon the fact that they might be some sympathizers with some of the stuff that's going on in your country amongst the fan base. The police are obviously on high alert and highly sensitized to the situation. Is there any danger that the police could be drawn into confrontations themselves with fans that are going to the stadium that are supporting some of the activities of the the far-left activists that are running around Paris creating the mayhem that they are? that that could be a situation where there's a flash point. We saw the police being very robust many years ago, different circumstances with Liverpool fans because of their uh situation surrounding the Champions League final in in the Stad Perry. Is there a situation where the police could be highly sensitized because of what's going on and then find themselves in altercations with PSG fans that are supporting the overall mayhem that's going on in the capital? you know uh we feel that the core of protest and the core of violence will not be around that game. Uh before the game we don't expect anything to happen. During the game we are quite confident that it won't. after the game when you will spread 30 40 50,000 uh people going to the tube station to everywhere they might have uh a point where they can meet up miles away from the park depress and to go on rampage. Uh what we do believe is that after Saturday and Sunday there is a kind of a of a of a whistle during the week and nothing major should happen because they have they have an agenda on Saturday. They have the agenda to make a new Saturday last week uh to to come again. So what we do we do know is that instead of having 10,000 people uh police in the in the street in all over France there will be 80 or 90. It will be another story. Uh everything has been taken by surprise uh last Saturday because the government obviously didn't have had the good information that the numbers of thugs uh will come. Uh it's not the case anymore. So uh of course there is an emergency case, of course there is a fear, of course there is doubt about what's going to happen. But now uh the government and the police have no choice that uh to have the numbers to go and fight properly against Yeah. the the losers. >> Well, Eric, it seems crazy to say it, but maybe football has come at just the right time. Um Eric, enjoy it tonight. You've covered many, many games, but enjoy it tonight because from the football point of view, I hope it's going to be great. PSG against Barcelona and it's live on Talk Sport 2.