Thursday afternoon, the senatorial delegation took the road to the Stade de France in particular to visit the security PC.

She then made "a progress report" on this fiasco which has damaged the image of France as an organizer of major sporting events two years before the Olympics and has created a virulent controversy between France and England.

"Unpreparedness upstream, lack of responsiveness during and questionable management afterwards": the chairman of the Culture Committee, Laurent Lafon (centrist) immediately summarized the grievances for this evening which saw spectators without tickets climbing the gates, supporters and families sprayed with tear gas and other victims of robberies or assaults.

A few hours earlier, at the Luxembourg Palace this time, the interministerial delegate for major sporting events and the Olympics, Michel Cadot assured his side that the preparation had been "serious" mentioning "dense work".

He submitted a report last week detailing the various malfunctions that arose during this evening.

Neither responsible nor guilty

The prefect of police of Paris, Didier Lallement, had recognized before the senators on June 9 last “a failure” and “imprecise figures”.

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, auditioned before, had maintained his version, much criticized, attributing the only fiasco to the "35,000" supporters with falsified tickets or without a ticket.

Little by little, the table for the evening of May 28 is taking shape, pending other hearings next week, in particular those of Real Madrid and Liverpool supporters.

But for Laurent Lafon, "all this gives the impression that there is no person responsible and since there is no person responsible, there is no culprit", evoking "a dilution of responsibilities ".

And all is not clear yet.

For the president of the Law Commission, Jean-Noël Buffet (LR), the question of the non-conservation of video surveillance images is "a serious fault".

If the video images from public transport or the police headquarters were kept, those taken by the manager of the Stade de France were automatically deleted after seven days.

Substitute prosecutor?

Despite the presence of a judicial police officer and also "it seems like a deputy prosecutor" as is "usual" during a major event, at the Stade de France security headquarters, these images were not kept, he explained.

Asked whether this non-conservation was intended to "hide" elements, Mr. Buffet replied: "No, I can't say that".

"What challenges is that no one had the lucidity to say + we keep these images +", he said.

Mr. Buffet told AFP that he was going to question "the Chancellery" on this point.

Asked about the automatic destruction of these images, Michel Cadot had returned Thursday morning to the prosecution, in the capacity to make requisitions.

"I can understand that the citizen has a little difficulty in considering that it is simply a form of automaticity which intervened in this affair," he commented.

He took advantage of Thursday's hearing to plead for the Olympics to adapt a crowd movement detection system.

The Senate, which would also like to hear UEFA but has not yet had an answer, has "not finished its work", said the senators.

“The time will come to also clarify the problem of counterfeit notes – a judicial investigation is in progress – which is perhaps not the major fact” of this evening as it was hammered during the first days, further explained Jean-Noel Buffet.

The senator expects "a quick response" from the state.

© 2022 AFP