on Sunday 1 June, 2025

Two dead and 500 arrested in France during PSG win celebrations

Soccer Football - Champions League - Final - Paris St Germain fans gather in Paris - Paris, France - May 31, 2025 Paris St Germain fans wave a flag out of a car window after winning the Champions League REUTERS/Tom Nicholson Purchase Licensing Rights
by : 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 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, although skirmishes with police later threatened to spoil the party.

The interior ministry's provisional assessment as of 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.

On the Champs Elysees, 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 descended on the boutique-lined boulevard.

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.