"Sanctions" requested after homophobic chants during PSG-OM
The government has demanded "sanctions" after the homophobic chants sung for several minutes Sunday night during the OM-PSG match, Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra calling on PSG, which "condemns", to "file a complaint".
The stands of the Parc des Princes during PSG-OM, September 24, 2023. REUTERS - BENOIT TESSIER
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Very shocked by the unbearable homophobic chants heard at the Parc des Princes during the #PSGOM ", wrote Olivier Klein on his account "X" (ex-Twitter) the day after the meeting between PSG and OM at the Parc des Princes.
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With the DILCRAH, I will seize the PSG club and the Professional Football League (LFP) so that sanctions are taken. We will also study the possibilities of taking legal action," added Olivier Klein, who took over the leadership of Dilcrah in September, an organization attached to Matignon.
His message is accompanied by a video of about thirty seconds in which we can hear PSG supporters singing homophobic chants against the players of the Marseille team.
« Urgent need to eradicate »
Like PSG, Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, also condemned the chants. "It is unthinkable to remain deaf to such hateful and homophobic chants in our stands," she commented on "X". "It is urgent to eradicate them from our stadiums," she insisted, adding that the LFP commission was "now seized" and calling on PSG "to file a complaint to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice, so that they are out of the stadiums".
Contacted by AFP, PSG said the club "condemns all forms of discrimination, including homophobia, and wishes to recall that they have no place in stadiums or in society".
The PSG "intends to further strengthen its prevention work" and "will meet in the coming days with all its partners on this essential subject". Asked about a possible complaint against the groups of supporters, PSG had not reacted. In addition, the LFP did not respond to AFP's requests. According to several media, the disciplinary commission of the LFP will seize the facts and the file will be opened Wednesday.
According to an AFP journalist present at the stadium to follow the match, these chants emanating mainly from the Auteuil stand lasted nearly a quarter of an hour.
After the match, PSG's Spanish coach Luis Enrique, when asked about the subject, evacuated: "I'm sorry, but I don't understand if the chants are nice or bad."
The PSG players did not react.
A controversial campaign
Several Paris players, including Frenchmen Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembélé, were filmed singing an insulting song towards Marseille during the group celebration Sunday night in front of the Auteuil stand. Homophobic chants are regularly sung in stadiums in France, where a controversy took place last season over the refusal by several players to wear a rainbow flocking jersey.
On the occasion of the annual campaign "Homos or straight, we all wear the same jersey", all players of the first and second divisions were invited on the weekend of May 13/14 to wear a jersey flocked with the colors of the rainbow, which also adorned the armbands of the captains. This campaign was respected by the vast majority of players, but some from Toulouse, Nantes or Guingamp refused to play, reviving the controversies already aroused last year by PSG player Idrissa Gana Gueye.
According to an Ipsos survey published in early September and conducted with the LGBT+ Sports Federation, 46% of French people say they have already witnessed homophobic or transphobic behavior in sports. According to this study, less than one in two French people feel that "things are being done to fight against LGBTphobia in sport" and more than three quarters (78%) want us to "go further" on this issue.
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With AFP
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