Videos circulate, showing violence in Montpellier or Grenoble after the victory of France against Morocco on Wednesday evening.
Accounts relay them, accusing supposed Moroccan supporters of being at the origin of this violence.
20 Minutes
takes stock of these videos.
On Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, videos of exchanges of fireworks mortars or brawls circulate in French-speaking or English-speaking far-right networks after the match between Morocco and France on Wednesday evening, sparking worried comments about "chaos".
These videos generally implicate supposed Moroccan supporters who would attack French supporters.
What is it really?
Clashes on the Place de la Comédie, in Montpellier
Captured on the Place de la Comédie in Montpellier, easily recognizable, these videos last between 30 seconds and one minute.
On a first video, tear gas and firework mortars are heard, the place is smoky.
A person grabs a chair from a bar or restaurant and throws it across the square.
On another, people are running, some seem to be fleeing, others are hooded, a person on the ground receives a chair on his back.
Slogans "We are at home", frequently heard in the meetings of the National Rally or Reconquest, are heard.
For the national police, the events that took place on the Place de la Comédie are part of a classic law enforcement situation, with the dispersal of a crowd.
Bruno Mengibar, departmental secretary SGP Police FO Unit of the Hérault department, explains that, around 10:15 p.m., at the end of the match, people climbed on the statue of the Three Graces, place de la Comédie.
They waved Occitan and French flags.
"Quickly, people who were downstairs lit firework mortars in the direction of these people, that's what ignited the powder," he says.
"Stretched" firework mortar fire was exchanged between a camp of supporters of the France team and supporters of the Moroccan team.
Videos broadcast by the daily
Midi Libre
allow you to see it.
#FRAMAR on one side the Moroccan supporters on the other the French supporters.
Full throttle mortar fire pic.twitter.com/H3HI4xJFP5
– Midi Libre Montpellier (@MLMontpellier) December 14, 2022
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Racist slogans heard
Camille, student and activist of SOS Racisme, was present on the Place de la Comédie.
She tells us that before the end of the match young people with French flags climbed the Three Graces.
"As soon as people with Moroccan flags arrived, they gassed their eyes," she testifies.
They shouted at them: “Go back home, we are at home, you are not French.
» » Firework mortar fire began.
Camille* says she saw "fights" (which we saw on a video she sent us), "overflows", then "something huge exploded", a crowd movement broke out followed.
She and her friends fled the scene.
Journalists from the
Gazette de Montpellier
also recounted and filmed the evening, which confirms this process.
According to their account, a handful of nationalist activists stormed the Three Graces chanting "we are at home", refusing to allow Moroccan supporters to climb on the statue.
At Mediapart, they explain that a “Moroccan supporter was gassed at point-blank range by one of the men, who had a tear gas canister”.
Firework mortar fire was exchanged "from that moment".
Restaurant furniture served as projectiles
The CRS intervened then, without it being known precisely how long after: “It was a question of putting themselves in a fixed dam and serving as a screen”, summarizes Bruno Mengibar.
Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd.
“There were overflows with restaurateurs who were victims, continues the trade unionist.
Their furniture was seized to serve as a projectile or simply as an outlet”, without there being any reported injuries, he adds.
At the Café du Théâtre, a restaurant owner, who witnessed the scene, explains that the party "turned sour", "young people shot each other at the fireworks, then the CRS arrived to stop it" .
If there was no damage in the establishment, “two tables were broken in the neighboring restaurant”, he indicates.
Contacted, the Montpellier prosecutor's office tells us that the incidents that took place on the Place de la Comédie have "not been the subject of any legal proceedings as they stand".
A man struck in Grenoble
What happened a few hundred kilometers away, in Grenoble?
A brief, seven-second video is circulating on Twitter and Snapchat showing a person on the ground being beaten by men.
The undated video was shot in the city center of the Isère prefecture.
Accounts claim that it is a French supporter “being lynched”.
We do not see any jersey on the video, either on the person on the ground or on his attackers.
Young people reported a brawl to the police after the match "in the heart of the crowd of 2,000 people", indicates the Grenoble prosecutor's office to
20 Minutes
.
“Despite their efforts, they did not identify the victims,” adds the prosecution.
The national police explains to
20 Minutes
that no arrest has been reported to them and invites the victim to file a complaint if she wishes.
The police also confide that they have reported several videos on the Pharos platform.
Four police custody were taken in Grenoble following incidents after the match, for trash fires or a "barricade" and for throwing a bottle at the police.
None is related to the facts visible in the video.
More than 250 people were arrested in France after the victory of the Blues, including a group of 40 people close to the ultra-right.
Five police officers were also injured.
*Name has been changed.
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Miscellaneous facts
Montpellier
Occitania
Languedoc Roussillon
Grenoble
Isere
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
fake-off
World Cup 2022
Company