The French Ligue 1 derby between Lens and Lille was thrown into jeopardy after a group of home fans stormed the pitch to confront their rivals.
The wild scenes erupted in the Derby du Nord - one of French football's most fearsome rivalries.
The first half was tightly contested but tensions had been brewing after the home fans unveiled a banner reading "Lillois Merda" - the latter being a colloquial French word for "s**t".
The two sets of fans were involved in a number of back-and-forths throughout the game but the first half passed goalless and relatively without incident.
Shortly after the players left the pitch, however, a sizeable group of home fans stormed onto the turf.
They made straight for the corner where the Lille fans were situated and stewards and police were forced to separate the two sets of furious fans.
This resulted in the second half being delayed by more than 15 minutes with a stadium announcement threatening to call the game off if fans didn't clear the pitch.
It was eventually able to restart however.
Lens currently sit fourth in the table after an impressive start and are pushing for a Europa League place.
Defending champions Lille meanwhile have struggled to rediscover the form that lead them to break PSG 's dominance.
