THOUSANDS of Paris Saint-Germain supporters took to the streets of the French capital on Saturday to celebrate their club’s victory in the Champions League final, but police clashed with some youths.
While the majority of fans celebrated peacefully, Paris police said scuffles broke out involving fans near the city’s Champs-Elysees avenue and PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium, where 48,000 supporters had gathered to watch the 5-0 win against Inter Milan in Munich on big screens.
Officers detained 131 people, most of them for possession of fireworks, Paris police said.
AFP journalists saw police use a water cannon to stop a crowd reaching the Arc de Triomphe.
“Troublemakers on the Champs-Elysees were looking to create incidents and repeatedly came into contact with police by throwing large fireworks and other objects,“ police said in a statement.
Mostly though, fans showed their joy by singing and dancing in the streets, with cars sounding their horns, after their team won the biggest prize in European club football for the first time in their history.
One 20-year-old PSG supporter, Clement, said: “It’s so good and so deserved! We have a song that talks about our struggles and it hasn’t always been easy.
“But we got our faith back this year with a team without stars. They’re 11 guys who play for each other.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said he would host the victorious players on Sunday to congratulate them, his office said.
In a separate message on X, Macron hailed a “day of glory for PSG”. “Bravo, we are all proud,“ he wrote. “Paris is the capital of Europe tonight.”
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hailed it as a “historic” win.
The PSG team will hold a victory parade on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday when tens of thousands of supporters are expected to gather to get a glimpse of their returning heroes.
