French riot police attacked Liverpool football fans watching their side’s European Cup final in Paris tonight.
Scores of heavily armed officers were filmed hitting supporters at a dedicated fan zone in the east of the city. A chilling video showed women among the victims of the police violence, which seemed to be unprovoked.
"The police came at the fans with batons and shields," said an onlooker who witnessed the trouble, which came during the first half.
"Officers had been standing by with water cannon and other crowd control devices all day, and their numbers increased as the day went on. They seemed to be unhappy with the amount of drinking that went on, and so decided to move in. It seemed to be unprovoked."
In turn, a police source said the officers were responding to ‘crown trouble’ among the thousands of Liverpool fans around Place de la Nation.
The square had been set aside for some 40,000 Liverpool fans who were in the city without tickets for the prestige match against Real Madrid.
It came as the kick-off of Saturday’s Champions League final was delayed “due to a security issue”, UEFA said.
The match was supposed to kick off at 9pm at the Stade de France but announcements in the ground said the hold up was caused by the “late arrival” of supporters.
Police sources said supporters tried to force their way through the first ticket checkpoint outside the stadium — situated in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis — but that access to the venue remained “watertight”.
Thousands of supporters were still massed outside the stadium with half an hour to go to kick-off.
Other videos showed supporters being tear gassed and held back by shields and batons.
