Stade de France ‘not ready’ to provide safety to supporters at Euro 2016

Security arrangements at the Stade de France are “not ready” to ensure the safety of spectators at Euro 2016, local politicians have warned, less than three weeks before the tournament.

Saturday’s Coupe de France final between Paris St Germain and Marseille was played amid new measures put in place since last November’s terrorist attacks on Paris, including a new perimeter wall and an extra layer of checks on fans entering the ground.

Despite that, fans were able to set off pyrotechnics during the match and the post-match presentations while glass bottles were also taken into the ground, according to Seine-Saint-Denis prefect Philippe Galli.

“The security fell short on a number of points which we will address,” he said.

“The checks were not carried out as they needed to be. We had to face a massive crowd at the entrance gates.”

Jean-Christophe Lagarde, deputy for the fifth district of Seine-Saint-Denis, went even further.

“I understand we have to make sure people are not bringing weapons in,” he said. “But during the Saint-Denis attacks (in November) nobody got in with weapons or bombs.

“In putting bottlenecks in place, we will have thousands of people clustered together. If you had a suicide bomber at one of the four gates, do you realise the panic there would be? We are not ready to organise an event in safe conditions.”

The European Championship begins on June 10 when France take on Romania at the Stade de France. The venue will host seven games in all, including the final on July 10.