The French capital held a hero's welcome for Paris Saint-Germain players who won their second consecutive Champions League title with celebrations under heavy security after a night of revelry marred by unrest. The team was received by President Emmanuel Macron ahead of a victory parade which drew thousands of supporters.
Paris Saint-Germain made history on Saturday night, by winning the UEFA Champions League final a second time in a row.
They beat English side Arsenal in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw following extra-time.
"You kept us on the edge of our seats until the very last second," President Macron told the PSG players at the Élysée Palace.
"This PSG team is a tremendous team, and without a doubt, after this back-to-back win, it's the greatest team in Europe."
Around 90,000 supporters and spectators turned out to see their club's players, on stage at a ceremony on the Champs-de-Mars, near the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
"We'll be back next year for the third time," star player Ousmane Dembélé told the tens of thousands of fans.
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The evening's celebration was set to continue at the Parc des Princes stadium, bringing together the fans and the players.
The victory parade comes on the heels of a night of celebrations, but the festivities were blighted by incidents of clashes with police, burglary, vandalism, a deadly road accident and hundreds of arrests, authorities said.
Sunday morning saw municipal workers cleaning streets strewn with debris from broken glass, damaged bus shelters, trash cans and vehicles set on fire and bicycles overturned.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez promised "a strong law enforcement response" during the players' return celebrations and fines for "obstructing traffic" in the event of any intrusion onto the Paris ring road.
Paris authorities said nearly 6,000 police and gendarmes have been deployed for security during the celebrations.
Nunez said in a press briefing earlier Sunday that 780 people were arrested across the country overnight.
He highlighted an increased use of fireworks directed at law enforcement and said 57 security forces were injured and that there had been "219 participants injured in France, including eight seriously".
The Paris public prosecutor's office announced the death of a young man in his twenties after he crashed head-on into concrete blocks on a Paris ring road exit ramp on his motocross bike.
A group of supporters had stormed the ring road, bringing traffic to a halt for a time and letting off flares, an AFP photographer said.
Another young man was seriously injured in a knife attack in Paris allegedly over a robbery, the prosecutor's office added.
Nunez said thefts and lootings had taken place in around fifteen cities across the country and incidents of violence were recorded in 71 municipalities.
'Unspeakable' violence
Macron called the violence "unspeakable".
But amid political recriminations over the troubles, Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire played down the severity, saying such incidents were nothing new.
"In the vast majority of cases, people celebrated with family and friends. And it was an extraordinary celebration," the mayor told BFM TV. "And incidents on the fringes of major events have been going on for centuries."
Grégoire blamed the "media coverage" of the unrest "and perhaps also the obsession of these troublemakers who come to cause trouble and show themselves on social media".
"There's a kind of escalation, a chain reaction, and an incitement, in a way, to do just about anything," he added.
Valérie Pecresse, the head of the greater Paris council from the Republicans party, slammed "the brainless thugs who allow themselves to destroy everything, tarnishing the image of Paris and France!".
She demanded "exemplary sanctions" in a post on X.
A spokesperson for the hard-left France Unbowed said: "We cannot be satisfied with the way last night's event was managed and organised by the government."
(with AFP)
