Woman Dead, Shops Looted As Algerian Fans Cause Unrest After AFCON Victory
12th July 2019
Two stores near the Champs-Elysees in Paris were looted, including a motorcycle shop where people took helmets, gloves and even bikes, an AFP journalist said
- Shops in central Paris were looted and a woman was killed in a high-speed car crash in southern France in what the government slammed Friday as "unacceptable" unrest following a key victory for Algeria's national football team
- Fans of the Algerian team flocked to the Champs-Elysees in central Paris and the Vieux Port area in Marseille late Thursday after their side defeated Ivory Coast on penalties to reach the semi finals of the Africa Cup of Nations
- Police used tear gas to disperse thousands of people who had gathered in Paris. The same measures were used to scatter crowds in Marseille
PARIS, France-
Shops in central Paris were looted and a woman was killed in a high-speed car
crash in southern France in what the government slammed Friday as
"unacceptable" unrest following a key victory for Algeria's national
football team.
Fans of the Algerian
team flocked to the Champs-Elysees in central Paris and the Vieux Port area in
Marseille late Thursday after their side defeated Ivory Coast on penalties to
reach the semi finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Two stores near the
Champs-Elysees in Paris were looted, including a motorcycle shop where people
took helmets, gloves and even bikes, an AFP journalist said.
Police used tear gas
to disperse thousands of people who had gathered in Paris. The same measures
were used to scatter crowds in Marseille.
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"The damage and
incidents last night on the sidelines of the celebrations... are
unacceptable," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said in a tweet.
"I hail the
actions of the security forces in Paris and across the country to maintain
order and contain the excesses," he added.
In total, 43 people
were detained.
In the southern city
of Montpellier, an Algerian football supporter celebrating his team's win lost
control of his car and ran over a family, killing a woman and seriously
injuring her baby, a security official said.
The 21-year-old man
was driving at high speed in the Mosson neighbourhood, the official said. The
driver was taken into police custody.
The woman was
walking with her one-year-old baby and 17-year-old daughter when the accident
happened.
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The baby suffered
traumatic injuries and was rushed to hospital. The 17-year-old had a slight
ankle injury.
Algeria, the
favourites in this year's Africa Cup of Nations, defeated the Ivory Coast 4-3
on penalties in the Egyptian city of Suez to set up a semi-final showdown with
Nigeria.
Paris and Marseille
are home to large minority communities of Algerian origin. Football
celebrations, with supporters brandishing large national flags, have on
occasion been a source of tensions.
The far-right
National Rally party said in a statement the incidents marked a "rejection
of France" and urged authorities to ban access to the Champs-Elysees for
the Algeria-Nigeria match on Sunday evening.