A thousand gendarmes and police were mobilized to supervise this meeting considered to be at risk in the second city of France.

Violent clashes broke out on Thursday between some German supporters of FC Cologne and French supporters in the Nice stadium.

During the match in Marseille, a German supporter was injured by a smoke bomb fire in the stands, according to the police headquarters.

"He was taken to La Timone hospital," said the firefighters.

He is "quite seriously injured," a source familiar with the matter told AFP.

Three members of the security forces were also injured, the prefecture said.

Fourteen people were arrested near the stadium in the evening, including three German supporters for attempting to introduce smoke bombs into the stadium.

The other arrests concern the throwing of projectiles, violence against persons holding public authority, intentional violence, the use of lasers or the introduction of a weapon (knife), depending on the prefecture.

Earlier in the afternoon, three other people had been arrested, two for projectile throwing and one for contempt of person holding public authority.

Inside the stadium, "German fans gave Nazi salutes in the visitors' stand", also indicated the police headquarters, specifying that a report had been made by the police chief to UEFA. .

"Thanks to the preparation well in advance, the cooperation and the dialogue with all the actors and a reinforced and reactive police force (...), the day and the meeting took place without major incident", added the prefecture. .

As of Monday evening, German and Marseille supporters had sought to clash in the city center and a brawl had opposed about twenty of them at the end of the evening.

In total, eight people had been arrested, including a German, most of them for carrying a weapon or contempt of person depositary of public authority, detailed the prefecture.

© 2022 AFP