Ligue 1 faces a big threat after the weekend of chaos in France
French football is never completely impervious to the shocks that cross the country. In recent weeks, the Ligue 1 stands have already borne witness to this porosity between football and social protest.
In Lens, the Red Tigers denounced police violence. In Paris, the Collectif Ultras Paris showed its support for the high school movement with a particularly explicit banner before it was removed.
In Marseille, the South Winners expressed their solidarity with the mobilized young people. The weekend of October 17 continued this trend in a much more explosive climate.
In Strasbourg, where PSG faced Racing on Saturday, Parisian supporters wore yellow vests in the visitors' park. Tensions and movements were also reported around the Meinau.
At Groupama Stadium, the Bad Gones denounced the looted and ransacked businesses. The world of football did not wait for the political situation to deteriorate further to find itself at the heart of this sequence.
It now remains to be seen whether the stadiums will simply reflect the country's anger or whether they could directly suffer the consequences. Because when the protest spills over into the streets, the authorities must also anticipate what could happen around major sports venues.
And the next day of Ligue 1 comes at a sensitive time, even though France experienced an extremely violent weekend. On October 17, demonstrations against the high cost of living, the deterioration of public services and the difficulties encountered in National Education brought together 550,000 people according to the Ministry of the Interior, compared to 800,000 according to the organizers, through around 110 rallies.
While many participants marched peacefully, several towns were hit by scenes of looting, fires and clashes with the police. In Paris, businesses were ransacked in several neighborhoods, while tensions spread to Lyon, Caen, Nantes, Lille, Strasbourg, Marseille and Bordeaux.
In Limoges, the town hall was ravaged by fire. The next day, while clean-up operations continued and traders tried to assess their losses, Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence and promised that those responsible would be prosecuted.